Running of Mind

So, it’s March and this is the season of doctor appointments. You know, the kind that doctors schedule to review your status. Complicated these days by age, doctors often have much to look at and find. Year after year these appointments are scheduled and met with very little emerging. And then one time or two something puzzling pops up and more tests are done, more diagnoses developed, and even more drugs prescribed. A new condition exists and is now treated.

And monitored. Yet another annual appointment to schedule.

The other day it was general health. OK for a near-74 year old. Monday was the cardiologist. Then a test to determine status on Tuesday. The results suspected a nefarious condition. I learned more in the afternoon. Possible blockage of an artery. Angiogram scheduled for Thursday. If blockage does exist, then they will do an immediate angioplasty.

Tuesday morning, meanwhile, I had an annual appointment with the pulmonologist (lungs and emphysema, you know). One wonders what he will find? Perhaps he and the cardiologist ought to get together? They practically share the same office space. I’ll suggest that! (he found nothing new)

Dental progress is being made. The partial plate on the lower jaw has been adjusted, an upper left tooth has been filled, an upper right tooth has been removed. We await a cleaning, and a fitting for a false tooth to fill the void caused by the extraction. And then the mouth should be pain-free and better functioning. Just in time for some other medical emergence!

The mind races for comprehension. Is this what the rest of life is about? The running around to doctors, dentists, oral surgeons, spinal pain clinics, pharmacies and medical labs? Poked and prodded, probed and swabbed. Such regimen! Procedure and conclusions. A whole industry of effort to tell us one inescapable fact: we are all aging and this is what it looks like.

Of course one prepares for the eventual end of it all. It is what we learn to do as human beings. We are born and we die. What we do with the time in between is what we call life. How well we live that life is up to each of us. If we feel burdened, that life is not well lived, I think. If we feel unburdened and free, then I think the life is well lived.

I have not always felt this way. Time and effort and exploration and discovery have broadened my mind and narrowed by expectations. It is a surprising fact, that last statement. Re-read it. “Broadened mind and narrowed expectations.”

This is a healthy view. It proves preparedness of mind and soul. And it yields peace.

Come what may, it is all good. As it should be. And it offers stark contrast for what is opposite. And that, good folks, is another stunning truth to ponder.

All is good. All is illuminating if we allow it to be so. Avoiding the process does no good and often results in added pain and suffering.

I seek peace instead. Might you as well?

March 9, 2017