Posts Tagged ‘driving’

Today is my birthday. 

Exactly three weeks ago I had a fleeting thought that I wouldn’t see my 39^th birthday when my car rolled and I was rushed into emergency surgery for a lacerated spleen and internal bleeding. 

It puts a whole new perspective on birthdays.  Up to now they’ve generally been seen as just another year with many more to come.  As I sit here, I reflect that now each birthday I will be grateful for making it this far.

I’m not a fatalist, nor am I much of a worrier of death.  I never get skittish when I’m flying – even when there is really bad turbulence – and I never even think about that kind of stuff when I’m driving.

Looking back on my accident, I realize how easy it would have been to be killed in an instant – no warning.  I didn’t think much about turning 39 before three weeks ago.  Now I’m really happy I made it.  Maybe that’s the true meaning of “Happy Birthday.”

 The good news is that the staples have been removed from my stomach.  The bad news is that there is going to be a really visible scar for the rest of my life.

There was a real sense of freedom coming out of Dr. Casano’s office and realizing that the staples were gone.  I felt like I could move a little more freely, not worry about various twists, etc.  I was happy to be staple free.

*WARNING – GRAPHIC PHOTO BELOW – VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK *

So now that I’m staple free, I figured I’d share a picture of what the staples looked like. Now, some people are going to think that I went overboard on my graphic photo warning.  But, if I hadn’t done that, some unsuspecting reader would have gone straight to the picture and “eeewwwww…” and then I would have gotten a nasty email about how inappropriate it was to show that picture.

Well, I suppose it could be inappropriate, but for anyone who cares about science, biology, etc. it’s actually not a bad little lesson.

And, maybe you should show your teenager what bad driving can do to you.