Aging Well

What do you mean shoulder surgery? I was supposed to go to Africa!

Robert Burns once famously wrote, "The best-laid schemes of mice and men may often go awry." It was this phrase that came to mind as I lamented my fate since retiring just two short months ago.

Posted Updated
Below view of surgeons holding medical instruments in hands
By
Laura Stillman

Robert Burns once famously wrote, "The best-laid schemes of mice and men may often go awry." It was this phrase that came to mind as I lamented my fate since retiring just two short months ago.  

With such enthusiasm, I wrote here about what was ahead with my new-found freedom.  I wrote this piece in week one.  In week two, I saw a doctor about a sore left shoulder.   

I am no stranger to shoulder issues, but I hoped this latest one was minor, and that I’d be back on the courts within a couple weeks. I was not so lucky. The treatments that had worked before proved ineffective now.  After X-Rays, the doctor reiterated to me what he had said a few years ago,  “You aren’t going to be happy until you have shoulder replacement surgery.”  

I decided to get a second opinion.  

The second opinion, which took another month, concurred with the first. I am scheduled for surgery April 10.  The recovery will take a few months. I just canceled my retirement gift to myself - a long-planned trip to Africa with a group of close friends.  

I have racked my brain to figure out what I did in a former life to deserve this - exactly one week into retirement.   It doesn’t escape notice that I didn’t retire when I was young, and I’ve gotten darn good use out of my body for a long time.  But I do wonder if the universe has a warped sense of humor, and decided to show me who’s boss.   

As I told a friend recently, “the stress and strain of a fast-paced profession kept me together all these years!”   Now that I’ve slowed down to smell the roses, I have experienced body parts going out of warranty with a vengeance.

So what now? I’m scouring travel brochures for my own revised bucket list destination sometime later this year.  Karma owes me, and I plan to collect.  Right after I regain the use of my left arm.

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.