True Confessions

True Confessions

Some people are more private than others.  Most men even more so.  I reckon I was raised with the edict that little boys don’t cry, especially as you get older; men don’t kiss and tell, men by virtue of being men have to grin and bare it.  If you don’t agree with this trend of thought, don’t blame me, after all I didn't invent it.  Especially if you were raised in either the farm or a rough neighborhood (I was raised on the farm), I guess you could call it a Code of Silence.

My mother’s famous words, and coincidentally also my wife’s, “Get Over It.”  It goes without saying that we suffer in silence, and of course suffering level is in the eye of the beholder.  2015 weather in the Pacific Northwest started out with spring like days.  For that matter, we seem to have skipped winter all together. During the month of February we had some very nice 60 degree days, and so my son and I made plans and a tee time for an early March round of golf at a popular and expensive country club.  A credit card is required at the time of scheduling the tee time with a required 24 hours for cancellation.

When the day came the temperature was in the low 40s, and a Monsoon type rain prevailed all day accompanied by a strong breeze.  With 4 of us at $130 a pop we weren’t about to cancel.  The golf course is in what is considered a weather convergence zone, meaning that the weather is subject to change with little or no notice.  The rain was coming down so hard at times that the water was just running on the surface of the turf.  Being a high class course of course we had very expensive electric golf carts with GPS, and every luxury but a built in bar.  Unfortunately they were so sophisticated that if you drove off the track/trail it would shut off (as I found out).

I am a good enough golfer to tell the ball where to go, except for one place, near the track/trail.  On the tenth hole, right after taking a break for lunch and to get out of the rain (warm-up if you will), I hit my drive into an area far away from the track into a hilly area.  Before I continue I must explain that I don’t normally like to take even over the counter aspirin, but in this case I consulted with a body building friend about what I could do to keep from pulling a muscle in the cold weather.  He offered me a muscle relaxant that wouldn't make me drowsy but would sap my energy after it wore out (he instructed me to take only have of the birth control size pill). 

By the tenth hole I could feel my energy going down fast, so I made the executive decision to take the other half of the pill.  I had to climb some pretty steep hills to reach my second shot, and I did hit it well, but returning to my cart, I slid down a very steep and long hill despite my golf shoe cleats.  I twisted my left ankle and my lower back had a slight “distant” pain.  I showed everyone my wet pant and joked about how I had decided to squeegee the side of the hill.  I continued to play five more holes, and looking back fairly well considering the weather.  The discomfort grew as the effects of the pill wore off, and so I threw in the towel.

My son later mentioned to his sister that he thought that maybe I could no longer handle a round of golf.  By the time I was dropped off at home I was limping slightly, but I was also dragging form the effect of the pill sapping my energy.  My wife asked me if I was alright, and I mentioned that I had taken a fall but I would be fine in a couple of days.  A week went by before my wife talked me into going in to see the doctor.

As it turned out I had dislocated my left hip, and they had to pop it back in place.  My advice to anyone reading this post, don’t take chances with your health and comfort, life is too short, and most of us have medical insurance any way.  The days of having to bring in the harvest no longer apply, health and comfort first.  I am still undergoing physical therapy, but the prognosis is for a full recovery.  I got lucky, even if I will look a lot tougher from here on out, especially if I don’t lose the John Wayne “swag” walk.  Take care of yourselves, the best is yet to come…