Saturday, February 9, 2008

Better Late Than Never...

As I've been sitting around recovering from my shoulder surgery, I've been thinking about the journey that has led me this place. I started thinking that I should have kept a journal to catalog this voyage that started in 1990/91 when I was 16 or 17 and has led to me sitting in front of this computer on a cold February day, 34 years old,  typing one handed while the other is in a sling. Then again, who knew it would take this long to find some resolution (hopefully) or that this ,seemingly, simple injury (dislocated shoulder) would turn into such an protracted tale?

Obviously, hindsight is 20/20 and I did not keep any such journal but I've recounted the stories so many times that they've stayed fresh in my mind and I should be able to put them down here with a fair amount of accuracy. The question is "Why?" Why keep a journal? and Why publish it on the web? The answer is two fold.

Firstly, it give me a place to post my progress so I can share it with my friends and family and keep everyone up to date. Not that it's such a chore emailing and calling people but I thought this would be a good idea. Also, I've been wanting to play round with blogging and this seemed like a good excuse for me to have something to say.

Secondly, I would like to recount my experience and share it with other people who are dealing with this kind of injury and are considering surgery. I put off having this surgery for almost17 years and once I finally decided to have the procedure I started looking around for first hand accounts of people's experiences with the procedure and rehab and was hard pressed to find anything. I had spoken to Surgeons and Physical Therapists but they have a particular view and it does not include the day to day living. As I was preparing for surgery (read, freaking out) I did a lot of reading but only found a few message boards for very specific sports (body building, mountain biking, skiing) about the issues related to recovery and what to expect. I was looking for something a little more nuts and bolts and thought  I might be able to provide that for someone else.

So, with all due deference to Christy Brown, lets get started.

1 comment:

Pat_V said...

From one latecomer brother to another:

Welcome to the blogosphere!
...The water's fine

P.