This is part one of my new mini-series, except at this point I’m not sure how mini this series will be. I have been thinking about what’s important, I mean really important not what seems to be important. This train of thought was sparked by a conversation with one of my Nurses this morning. She has been moved from 4 North A for quite a while but was there throughout my series and boldly predicted, during last summer, that I would return to the “floor” in a matter of 7-10 days. This prediction was a little off but not by much, and it was made during some of my darkest days. She said, “I knew you were going to make it, I knew if anyone could pull through that, it was you.” It was really great to hear another person say that they believed in me. Of course she also went on to say that, “only the good die young, and you’ve got many years left yet”. We had a great laugh about that.
While I know that many believed in my ability to come from the darkness I also realize that at many times it was quite easy not to believe that. Fortunately as one of my Uncle’s said, ‘I got to the gates of Heaven… saw there was no hockey, turned around and came back!!’ Thank God there’s no hockey in Heaven.
I have always thought that it is a shame that someone can go through an experience like mine and not learn from it. This type of experience can and should be a life changing experience. Not always in the same way, but I think that it should allow you to look at things in a different perspective. Of course you’re still going to get pissed off when someone cuts you off in a parking lot, or whatever, but in the big picture your view’s, or at least mine, have undergone a transformation. While this may seem like an inevitable result, believe it or not, it is not, and many people have these life-threatening experiences with many different results in relation to their life views. A part of this mornings/last night’s email was brought on by the notion that many patients ignore Healthcare professionals advice, ignore their health, and in my opinion make very selfish decisions at critical times during their respective battles. With the exception of the John Mellencamp concert I honestly feel that I have made most of the right decisions throughout my series. They weren’t always easy decisions, in fact often times they were difficult pills to swallow, pardon the pun, but I have been blessed with the ability to be able to recognize that you have very little if you don’t have your health. That’s one thing that is important. At some point I may be able to help those who have not chosen to live, but at this point I don’t have any real solid views on those types of situations as they are emotionally charged and very individualized.
That said, I do know it is true that like most things often times, you don’t miss your health until it’s gone. But your health is one of those things that you can’t always recover. Happiness, wealth, friends, etc. they come and go often times but all of them are down the priority list if you don’t have your health. I know that most of you are saying ‘I know you are right Eaton’, yet most of you probably make poor decisions with regards to your health every day. And I realize this is natural as you have not had the wake-up call that I have, but perhaps I can act as that wake-up call. I definitely feel that is one thing I can bring to many people for many years. You must take care of yourself, as if you don’t care about you why should anyone else? Think along the lines of “you can’t teach those who don’t want to be taught”. We all have vices, and I think they are essential, but at some point you must ask yourself whether they are more important than your health? Prior to my series I would have said no, without any real proven knowledge as I hadn’t had the experience to back it up. Now I can speak for you all and firmly say that you don’t want to have an experience like mine, not at any price. Hopefully you’ll just have to trust me on that, hopefully you do and will.
That concludes the first part of what’s really important. Your health is most important, everything else comes second. So that said I think you should all take care of yourselves until I’m back next time to give you another piece of my puzzle of life.
Geoff
#4
