Looking ahead to a more healthy life

       I’ve visited doctors more times this past year than I’ve eaten at Culver’s.
       I love Culver’s, so that is saying a lot.
       After enduring colon cancer surgery, lots of prods and pokes and 10 days and nine nights at the Methodist Hospital in Des Moines in late March, I’m a cancer survivor.
    Other health issues included the installation and removal of a chemo port, two preventative treatments of chemo, a blood clot in my lower right leg and my most recent element, a bulging disk in my lower back. I’ve had enough of being sick.
        I calculate that I’ve had at least 40 plus doctor’s appointments this year.
    I’m hopeful and thankful that the new year will bring better things in the health department and I can get back to my old self.
      And I could not have been more blessed to have one of Iowa’s best surgeons doing the cancer operation. I remember when Debbie and I sat in his office and heard him say, “Everything will be fine. This is a routine surgery.”
       I’m thankful to God that I remain cancer free.
       I’m also thankful that the cancer was discovered early and it had not spread in my body.
     Following the chemo treatments, Debbie and I took a trip in early June to my boyhood home in Tulsa to attend a cousin reunion.
     After returning a week later, I noticed that my right leg was swollen. The right leg was two-inches bigger than the left leg.
    After traveling to Oskaloosa for a leg scan, I was put on blood thinners after the scan indicated I had a blood clot. I visited my doctor almost weekly and endured blood clot meds for nearly three months. A following up scan in early September indicated that I had a clean bill of health.
     While dealing with my blood clot, I started experiencing pain in my upper right leg in August. At first, I thought it was another blood clot. My primary care doctor assured me that it wasn’t.
      As the pain intensified and spread across my back and into my left leg, I finally visited with a pain specialist at the Iowa Clinic in West Des Moines in early November. That visit led to an MRI and CT scan (cancer follow up) on Nov. 21 on the same day.
      Debbie and I met with the pain doctor on that day and a cortisone shot was planned for Dec. 30, nearly six weeks later.
      After sleeping in the Lazy Boy chair for a couple nights, I moved back to the bed and found some comfort sleeping on top of the sheets and blankets.
        I’ve also enjoyed a study diet of Tylenol and Ibeprophen while time ticked along slowly.
       I had my name on a waiting list at the pain clinic just in case someone canceled. I hit the jackpot early this week when I received a call on Monday, Dec. 15 offering me an opportunity to have a cortisone shot nearly two weeks earlier than scheduled.
       I was so thankful to receive my cortisone shot later that day as at 3 a.m. on Monday this week, the pain shooting through my body caused me to jump out of the bed.
      A stop at the kitchen for a glass of iced tea and catching my breath was just want I needed.
        I’m already feeling better, but was told by the doctor giving me the cortisone shot that it could take a week or two for the shot to take full effect.
        I’m hoping that this will be my last doctor visit in 2025.
        My next scheduled appointment is Jan 16 as a follow up to my cortisone shot.
        Through all this pain and health challenges, I’m so grateful that I remain cancer free and that I’m moving forward to better health.
        I’m also thankful that I was able to sign up on Medicare and Social Security late last year, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
​        The only other surgery I had was when I had my tonsils removed at age 7.
        And I’m most thankful that God’s healing power has been overseeing it all. And I couldn’t have gotten through it all without Debbie.
        She was beside me at the hospital, sleeping in a chair and staying with me for eight of the nine nights there.
         In spite of the many life and health challenges this year, I’m so blessed.
         And that brings me to Christmas and the New Year.
        The holidays will be a bit leaner this year in the Parker house, but as my mom and dad did back in the day, they found a way to get by brother and me a few gifts under the Christmas tree. I never did without or went hungry in life and during Christmas.
          That family tradition will continue again in 2025.
         Next week we all celebrate Christmas. During the hustle and bustle of life, take time to turn off social media and share your thankfulness for all your blessings.
          And if able, be sure and take time this season to  help others with a gift card, a cart of groceries, a tank of gas or in some other giving way.
           Merry Christmas!
           It’s always better to give than receive.
          And one last thing, I was hired as the editor of the North English Record on Christmas Eve 1997. This year marks my 28th in Iowa.
          Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.