Sickle Cell Success....Nothing Less

#NewYearNewHips 

2017 is my year of change. I'm on my way to healthy hips and here's my first step.

The drive to Los Angeles was clear of traffic but not clear of rain. I thought it to be ironic that the clouds seemed to reflect my spirit. Although I was optimistic about getting relief for my endless hip pain, the gloomy day seemed to reflect the endless emotional roller coaster that I seem to be on.  Nevertheless, I was excited to see my grand-babies, daughter and son-in-law.

When I arrived at their home I drove past their house wanting to go to the ocean.  I love the ocean. It always makes everything else seem small. Before facing my family, I needed to see the endlessness of God’s creation. The ocean seems to calms my soul and I really needed this emotional relief. Feeling silly for taking this detour, I drove past the Santa Monica beach exit and went back to my daughter’s house. It took me five minutes to bend, creek and crack my bones to stand up and walk. "Welcome to my world", I said, thinking out loud.

Seeing my daughter and her babies made me smile and forget my anxious thoughts. The next day I was up early due to barely sleeping the night before. I got dressed in warm comfortable clothes, thinking they would require me to change for examinations, but no physical examinations were performed. My health care provider has interconnected medical records, so the doctors in LA had full access to all of my medical records. I just love technology.

The first meeting was with a beautiful soul who met me with gentle compassion. This doctor was part of the sickle cell team, with experience with people who live in pain. We spoke about my past, current, and future health issues. We laughed about the funniness of doctors and how (we) patients need to be pro-active about our health. I explained that I wanted to connect with this sickle cell team to assist me in my journey to have new hips and she agreed to follow my care and pre-operation needs. This started my day off right. I was optimistic about the next appointment with the orthopedic surgeon later that same day.

That story is for another day.