Secure Socket Layer

In order to comply with search engine security I’ve had to add an S to the address of this web site. I’m told that it will forward automatically and if it doesn’t you may not be able to read this note. 

It seems secure websites are now required even though nothing is asked of you for this page. This isn’t a commercial site obviously and up till now I was allowed to continue without this extra expense.  Now I am no longer allowed to.  Sigh. I expect the newer TLS Transport Layer Certificate will cost even more. 

Past Imperfect

Next Monday I go back to Jackson South Hospital in Miami for what I hope is my last operation to finish what I started last August. I have a blood clot filter in my groin that is used to prevent strokes in immobile patients in the event a leg clot forms and decides to travel uphill and kill them. The IVC (Inferior Vena Cava) filter catches the clots and saves problems. However I am mobile enough these days I no longer need the filter in my body they tell me and a two hour visit to the hospital will get it out and send me home the same day. Unless there are complications is the caveat offered to me as they are after all, cutting me open with a knife. 

Rusty stays with friends, my wife and I spend Sunday night in Miami and Monday evening I’m home sleeping in my own bed.  Modern medicine is astonishing. And from there it’s onward and upward as I continue to practice walking without even a cane. 

A new pair of shoes help to keep my feet on the ground and in physical therapy I work on improving my balance.  Restorative action by lawyers is coming up against a brick wall it seems. The scumbag who nearly managed to kill me already has a quarter million dollar judgement against her family so she only had a ten thousand dollar policy for her car. Why the Florida State Legislature allows such miserable sums is beyond me but perhaps our state representative can be brought to think about this gross unfairness. It’s almost as bad as encouraging totally uninsured motorists on the roads. 

My wife feels the injustice of the situation more acutely than do I. She has had a tough physical and mental struggle with this situation. I was lucky inasmuch as I had time to think and sort out the good and the bad of what had happened to me. She saw only the dreadful external appearance of me laid out in a hospital bed stuffed with tubes and wires. Compensation seemed doubly appropriate when we heard through the grapevine the scum bag was telling people I just suffered a few broken bones. It’s at times like these one hopes there really is a hell with space reserved in it. 

I’ve lost accumulated sick leave, I can only work part time at the moment but medical bills are not swamping is for some reason. For that alone we feel lucky in the world in which we live. Medical bankruptcies loom everywhere. So there is that. And the care has been excellent. 

I had a bad moment a few nights ago at work. A motorcycle crashed in the early hours of the morning and the passenger had to be flown to Miami. The young man was not completely alert and they suspected a broken pelvis. That gave me some flashbacks. I can normally get over work on the ride home but that one stayed with me and still I wonder how he’s doing. These are the worst days for him and recovery will be long and slow. Which is hard for a young man to cope with. 

In the end all we can do is cope with our own problems I guess. He’ll manage without me and my own scumbag who ran me down will go on living as will I, each in our own way. There is a lot of truth to the saying that the best revenge is living well. I don’t care much for the concept of revenge but living well is a good way to live for any reason. There is a voice inside me that is a constant reminder that things could be worse and will instead be much better as time goes by. 

I doubt anything will go wrong on Monday as I’m inclined to believe the people who will be operating on me when they say it’s easy peasy. Nevertheless the fact I’m going to get sliced open is a salutary reminder not to take anything for granted. And also not to get too bummed out by life’s reverses. It could be worse I think. At least I was wearing my helmet and I still recognize my dog.