Attitude is everything ....

I have not written much yet this week, because not a lot has happened. I am waiting to hear back from the pain management physician and the Chicago orthopod – e-mailed both on Sunday. The Chicago orthopod is just back from a conference, so she is likely swamped with patient issues. The pain doctor may be on vacation this week, but until we talk, I’m only able to talk the anti-inflammatory medication.

I did physical therapy on Monday and Wednesday of this week, which were the final two sessions left on my current pt script. I had candid discussions on Monday and today about realistic potential progress and the therapist readily admitted that from a functional aspect, we are not making the needed progress. The bottom line is that it is all about function. He basically said that based on where we are today, there will likely not be substantial progress. This has never been vocalized in a formal sense in three years. Both of us have known it for awhile, but we've both have been hoping we were wrong. While it is not great news, I appreciate his honesty and willingness to accept the fact that what we have today for function may be "it." I estimated that I am doing about 10-15% of what I would normally do on a daily basis. We also talked about my feelings as for moving forward, what this might mean and my fears at the moment. I’ve worked with the same therapist individual for the past 1 ½ years and he was more straightforward about it today than ever before.

Although the frustration of continuing with pt and not seeing progress is not what I want, it is tough to realize that we’ve given it our best attempt and for function ability, what we have today could be “it.” As I was driving home, I was feeling rather low and that after all we’ve been through the end result is obviously not the desired outcome. I arrived home and found the following message in my e-mail …. rather fitting for my struggle with the foot. Once again it reminded me that attitude is significant …. it is a foot deformity and God can either cause the situation to change or will provide grace to deal with it. You are always stronger than you think you are – no matter what happens.

Headed Homeward
by Max Lucado
Aging is God’s idea. It’s one of the ways he keeps us headed homeward. We can’t change the process, but we can change our attitude. Here is a thought. What if we looked at the aging body as we look at the growth of a tulip? Do you ever see anyone mourning over the passing of the tulip bulb? Do gardeners weep as the bulb begins to weaken? Of course not. We don’t purchase tulip girdles or petal wrinkle cream or consult plastic-leaf surgeons. We don’t mourn the passing of the bulb; we celebrate it. Tulip lovers rejoice the minute the bulb weakens. “Watch that one,” they say. “It’s about to blossom.”

Could it be heaven does the same? The angels point to our bodies. The more frail we become, the more excited they become. “We are waiting for God to finish making us his own children, which means our bodies will be made free” (Rom. 8:23).
You could add your own adjective, couldn’t you? Which word describes your body? My cancerous body? My arthritic body? My deformed body? My crippled body? My ever-expanding body? The word may be different, but the message is the same: These bodies are weak. They began decaying the minute we began breathing.

And, according to God, that’s a part of the plan. Every wrinkle and every needle take us one step closer to the last step when Jesus will change our simple bodies into forever bodies. No pain. No depression. No sickness. No end. This is not our forever house. It will serve for the time being. But there is nothing like the moment we enter his door.