Daily Archives: October 7, 2016

Health

Narrow, Dude

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Fall                                                                                Hunter Moon

total_knee_replacement_components_modelNew x-ray of my left knee. “See that narrow space there?” Dr. William Peace points at a place where bone and bone have come very close together on the inside of the knee. “That’s about a 90% loss of cartilage. And that is a bone spur.” Pointing higher on the bone.

Indication. Total knee replacement. I said yes, let’s fix it. He said his scheduler would call. She called. They can get me in as soon as January! Oh, well.

It was oddly relieving to see the x-ray. I knew the pain was real, but there’s always a doubt. Maybe I’m experiencing pain that’s severe for me, but wouldn’t be severe for someone tougher. Nope. It’s my knee and its disappearing cartilage.

So I’m on a cancellation list and on a “If Dr. Peace opens up more days for surgery.” list. Not sure what to do about exercise. Step up the meds I guess. More CBD. More tylenol. Ice. Braces. Do, in other words, what I’ve been doing.

Guess us baby boomers are creaking our way toward the finish line in greater numbers. A good time to be an orthopedic surgeon.

BTW: Right next to Panorama Orthopedics in Golden is an Earth Trek climbing center. Kate thought these two were located well for each other. On leaving we also noticed about two blocks down the hill a business with the sign, Colorado Pain. First, the climbing wall. Then, the surgeon. Afterward, Colorado Pain.

Friends, Great Wheel, Memories, Science, Shadow Mountain

Do You Know Any Stars?

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Fall                                                                             Hunter Moon

orion_head_to_toe-www-deepskycolors-comLooked at Orion on the way up here this morning. He warms my heart like a familiar friend, a friend who comes for the season. I have greeted his return each autumn for 48 years. We first became acquainted during the 11-7 shift at Magnetic Cookware in Muncie, Indiana. I worked there as a security guard. When I see him in the southern sky, I smile.

Hokusai, the great Japanese ukiyo-e printmaker, followed the Northstar sect of Buddhism. In one sense we obviously project our sensibilities on these celestial objects. That’s clear when we look at the different names various cultures have given to the same identifiable stars or constellations.

In another sense, and more important to me, we see the Drinking Gourd, or the Big Dipper, or the Great Bear, or Orion as distant reminders of the changing seasons here on earth and we use them as sailors and caravans in the Rub al Khali, as farmers and hunters have used them, as guides. They are not, therefore, far away from us in the collaborative sense. The vast distances that separate us from these solar engines are irrelevant to their purpose as way finders and markers of seasonal transitions.

northstarNo wonder, in a world lit only by fire, that the stars were the work of gods. We might think we know them better now, now that we can identify their chemistry, understand their age and locate them in a 3-D universe, but that’s only a material, physical way of knowing. Important in its way, yes. Perhaps even key to the future of human existence. Still, very different from that night beacon lighting the way to freedom for escaping slaves. And, very different from Orion as my friend and companion for 48 autumns and winters.

In these latter uses the stars are important parts of our life right here on this planet, giving us direction and even emotional sustenance, clueing us to the coming of spring or the dog days of summer or the fall harvest.

As the squat Welshman asked me at St. Winifred’s Holy Well in Holywell, “Do you know any stars?”

photo credit: Orion Head to Toe, by Rogelio Bernal Andreo, creative commons license at Orion