It's been a while since I've been able to write.  Hip surgery and recovery, Spring Training, and learning how to swing a golf club without trying to protect my left hip.  I've been doing it for over a year, now, so I shouldn't expect it go away just-like-that.  Besides, to be up and playing golf after only a few months is unbelievable in itself.  It used to be that these surgeries ended up with a lot of physical therapy, over a period of months.  I was up, on my feet, walking without pain on the third day after my surgery, and sure, I have physical therapy, and I'm in my second set of 12 visits with a really great therapist named Nicole, but it's not the same.  I've gotten into such lousy physical shape over the past several years, she's trying to bring me UP to a baseline, before we can work on the hip solely.  It helps that she has a sense of humor about things, because, despite their posted, "NO WHINING" sign, I do it all the time.

I'm getting better, too.  It used to be that I could, on a NU STEP machine, make a quarter mile in 5 minutes (go ahead Kevin, laugh if you must), on level 2.  Now, I'm making .26 miles in 5 minutes, but on resistance level 6.  Running was never my thing.  Sure, I could blaze down the baselines, 60 feet/90 feet,  but anything more than that was timed with a calendar.  Back when I was playing intramural softball in the Navy, I was an "old guy" at 30.  When I'd go to bat, I'd hear, "OK, let's get 'Pops' out and go in," or similar such stuff, until I put the bat on the ball.  I like to say that I moved pretty quick for an "old guy," and by the end of the game, the young guys would learn that, "Old age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill."

Currently, I'm a mess.  Only one time have I been more than 170 lbs, and I had a stroke when it got to 184.  I'm currently at 168, I'm normally in the 150's, but my hip problems put a stop to my major form of exercise, walking the golf course.  It's been a lot of "baby steps," like everything, at first, my early PT sessions were marred by cramps in my calves and thighs, I couldn't go around the block without having to stop for a moment to deal with burning muscle cramps.  Now, I can get around the block, and I'm almost ready to try walking for nine holes.  I'm going to try seeing how far I can go the next time I play with John Baronowski.  He can carry my bag in the golf cart, and I can see how far I can make it without any resistance (my bag and clubs weigh about 35 - 40 lbs, and I don't know how that translates to a push cart with 12" bearing-ed wheels, but I suppose I could figure out how much more force it will take to push them around, but I play for fun), then I will try it with the clubs.  My goal is to walk a full 18 holes on my 65th birthday on July 15, 2016.  God willing, I'll make it.

I had my quarterly epidural steroid injection on April 11, but I am still having sciatic pain, and Doctor Dave has ordered an MRI for my lumbar spine, and wants to see me as soon as I get out of the tube.  This last injection was the first of my ninth year of taking them.  When I first started, Doctor Dave was a Captain, who worked for a LtCol, and Doctor Dave's kids were in elementary school.  Now, Doctor Dave is the LtCol, and his kids aren't so little anymore.  This is the man who knows what I looked like when I was told that lung cancer had been confirmed, because he's the one who told me.  Doctor Dave is more than just a great doctor, he's a friend -- I'm proud to say -- and a spiritual example to me, as well.  What can I say?  I'm a fan.

I keep seeing these ads for Laser Spine Surgery Clinics, and actually saw one in Santa Rosa, they ask to see a recent MRI to determine if they could make my sciatica go away forever.  How great would that be?  My only problem is that my insurance carrier may not approve it.  It's definitely something worth looking at, and I plan to ask Doctor Dave if he thinks that its time I look into it.  I can get copies made, the rest would be pretty easy, I'm pretty sure that I can get the referral, its United Healthcare/Mil...