Life's Failures

First, for the record, let me state that I have made plenty of mistakes. Plenty.  Some I remember and others I have worked hard to forget. 

Last week I was talking to a group of physical therapy students from across the state.  At the end of one talk, I opened the floor for questions.  I had been talking about mentorship and how to build a career.  One student asked me “what failures have you learned from in your career?”

Interesting question.  I don’t really think I’ve failed at anything.  Oh, there are some things that I’ve set out to do that I didn’t accomplish.  I don’t think I failed at those. 

At this point, it is necessary to switch to a non-gratuitous sports analogy.  I didn’t fail.  Time just ran out. 

Not every team can go undefeated.  Every year.  It just doesn’t work that way.  Some of the greatest dynasties in sports with some of the longest win streaks eventually did lose. 

I’m not going to say that “it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose but how you play the game.”  That’s not the way I’m wired.  I never played a game of any kind when the outcome didn’t matter to me. 

All those parents that have kids playing in games where they don’t keep score—they are silently keeping score.  And if they’re not, their kids are.

Keeping score gives our games structure.  And having a winner in every game teaches us lessons that hopefully extend way beyond sports.  That maybe we need to work harder.  Prepare better. 

I hate the term “loser.”  When you think of that word, all sorts of images enter your head, none of them good. 

It ignores the valiant effort that fell just short.  It betrays the athlete that gave it everything they had but couldn’t vanquish a superior opponent.

The lessons we learn from sports reach WAY beyond the games themselves.  We need the games to measure how we’re doing but the lessons don’t start there; they start on the practice field and in the gym. 

Those lessons start in the weight room and running on the track.  They exist in doing something that you don’t think you can do.  Of pushing yourself physically until you can’t do any more (but maybe reach down and find that little more). 

I was going to open a downtown restaurant one time.  I got cold feet about the economy and didn’t do it.  Sullivan’s is there now.  A failure?  Not really.  My family is rather glad I’m not in the restaurant business.  I’m gone enough as it is.

I opened a hospital equipment store once long ago.  It didn’t do so great so I sold it.  A failure?  Maybe.

The bottom line is that the mistakes that I’ve made, the failures (OK, I’ll agree to that term) that I’ve had, have led me to where I am today.  Have made me the person that I am today.

And I have to be OK with that.  Without those mistakes, without those failures, maybe I wouldn’t be who I am today.

I am happy with my life.  Great wife of almost 42 years.  Great kids.  Greater grandkids.  Great friends.  Good health.  Fun hobbies.  The chance to do what I love and get paid for it.  Yeah, I’m in a pretty good place. 

If You See Me Taking The Elevator Down One Flight Of Stairs, Slap Me On The Back Of The Head

I’ve always been pretty harsh with people that sport handicapped tags on their vehicle yet don’t appear to be handicapped.  I know that a lot of handicaps aren’t really visible and I try and understand that. 

I also know of a fellow that not too long ago bragged to me that he was able to finally snag one of those handicapped tags that hang from the mirror, allowing him to park in those prime parking spots.  Without violating federal laws, I can tell you that the only handicap that this guy has is laziness.

So when I see someone with a real handicap, maybe they’re in a wheelchair, and the parking spots are all occupied with cars bearing those hanging tags…well…I just question the fairness of it all.  

I recently gained some appreciation for the dilemma though.  Let me step back a bit.  I had my first knee surgery as a teenager.  I’ve had several more since then.  My right knee is pretty well shot.  If you catch me running, you better run too because something big and bad is chasing me.

My coaches try to be kind about it all.  When one of my football players is injured and I try and run onto the football field, I’m sure there are folks wondering if I’m going to make it or not. It is U-G-L-Y. 

The coaching staff has even been known to tease me about having it all on video.  Maybe that they are concerned that the athlete might expire before I get there.  That my 40 time is measured on a calendar.

I’ve seriously considered keeping my bicycle on the sidelines to make the trip quicker. (I can still move pretty good on a bicycle.)  The good folks at Ortho Tennessee-Maryville (formerly Maryville Orthopedic Clinic) are going to get to know me on an all new level some day.  That total knee replacement is looming.

Most days I deal with it fine.  My weight is good and my core strength is too, factors which keep my knee pain under control.  Most of the time.  I am well acquainted with Vitamin I (Ibuprofen).

I can hike pretty well.  Actually, I can go uphill quite well.  Downhill, eh, that’s another matter.  Without hiking poles, I might not make it downhill.

But recently, my right knee has taken a turn for the worse.  Maybe that knee replacement is gonna happen sooner than I planned.  There are days when even walking is ugly.  So back to my story.

I sometimes have to attend meetings at the hospital in the middle of the day.  And a lot of those days, the only parking spot is quite some distance away.  I’ve learned to build extra time into getting to those meetings.

I’m pretty sure that somebody could look at X-Rays of my knee and decide I was worthy of one of those handicapped parking tags.  If you are old enough, you might say I walk like Chester (if you know, you know).

Anyway, I’m not going to let a little knee pain make me do something selfish like get a handicapped parking tag.  There are just too many people that truly deserve that privilege.  People in wheelchairs.  People on crutches.  People that need that space.  Not me.

I’m going to continue to park on the far side of the parking lot.  I’m going to continue taking the stairs whenever I can.  And if you ever catch me taking the elevator down one flight of stairs, feel free to come up and smack me on the back of the head.

But that’s just the way I am.

Runner's High? Not me.

I’ve been accused of being an “endurance athlete” in recent years.  It has a lot to do with the length of some of my bike rides.  Appearances can be deceiving.  I am anything but an endurance athlete.

Back when I used to jog for exercise, it was obvious that I wasn’t a runner.  A bit thicker then, one look at my body and my running and you just knew that running was not my sport.

That “runner’s high” that runners talk about?  Never found that creature.  It didn’t exist as far as I was concerned.  Running was misery from the first step to the last.

But I did it anyway.  It was cheap and easy.  A decent pair of running shoes and out the door you go.  It didn’t matter what clothes you wore although I did have a pair of those embarrassingly short running shorts that runners used to wear.  Thank goodness that no photos survived that era.

No, any semblance of an endurance athlete that you might assume about me is just a façade.  I do pretty good because I am fully dedicated to the biking and because I work hard at it, but start up a hill and I get dropped (what bikers do when they can’t keep up) in a hurry.

My body, my lung capacity, my muscles, my heart…they just weren’t built for it.  But since I enjoy the sport so much, persist I will.

As far as runners are concerned, I think there are two kinds.  Those that are naturals at it, that take great joy in going out for a run and those that aren’t naturals but overcome lack of natural talent with hard work.

From a sports medicine standpoint, I see two different categories as well, lining up with the type of runner they are.  The naturals, those that have a real talent for running, seem to get little problems or stress fractures.  A lot of the time it is just from overtraining.

Too much mileage.  Too many hills.  If I can run 10 miles, then let’s run 20 miles.  That sort of thing.  The breakdowns that they experience are most often simple with clear solutions.

I’ve had some really great runners that put in a ton of miles running that have simple breakdowns.  Most of the time I put them on a treadmill, running barefoot, and videotaping their running gait.  Slow motion often reveals really subtle abnormalities that often have a simple, subtle fix. 

Those non-naturals, those that run but it always seems hard for them, often have bigger breakdowns which can be anywhere.   And they’re sometimes hard to fix.  I think part of that is that they are used to running in pain so they run through a lot of injuries that might otherwise be normal but by persisting, they make them into big problems.

Big problems at the knee.  Big problems at the hip.  Big problems at the low back.  And then there are the feet.  They often have huge problems at the foot.  Maybe flat footed.  Maybe a huge arch.  Maybe they are a pronator.

And just maybe that’s why running doesn’t come easy for them. 

I make a lot of orthotics for runners.  Those elite runners can often benefit from orthotics but I am careful not to make huge changes in the way that their foot hits the ground.  That is often why they are an elite runner in the first place.

Those non-natural runners can very often benefit from orthotics as well but I’m not afraid of big changes through the orthotics on them.   Many times, I have had one of those average runners—a runner who might not take great joy in running but who is running for their health—and given them back their running.

They may have stopped running altogether because their body just couldn’t take it anymore.  Sometimes treating the origins of their problem gets them back to running.

So, which runner are you?

Tennessee Trash

Be warned-this column will have little to do with sports.  Yeah, I know…you’re in the Sports Section.  But if you come here often, you might have learned that I go off on tangents from time to time that have nothing to do with sports or athletic health care.

I was on my bike yesterday (no, we’re not going there), riding by myself, which is quite unusual for me.  I usually ride only in groups.  It’s safer and a lot more fun that way.

When you’re on a bicycle, riding alone, you notice things.  You smell the cedar tree that was recently cut.  You hear the birds calling out and maybe you know what they are by their call.  You are definitely more in tune with your surroundings.

And what I noticed yesterday was trash.  Everywhere.  I couldn’t go 100 yards without seeing trash on the side of the road.  It’s the worst it has ever been.

I live just off of Big Springs Road.  You may not know it but that is the road to our landfill.   I guess you can expect a certain amount of trash along that road.  My kids and I used to go out on Sunday afternoon and pick up stretches of it.  I still do, sometimes.

But where I was riding yesterday was in some of our most scenic areas.  Sinking Creek Road near Greenback.  Old Friendsville Road.  Marble Hill Road.  Union Grove

At least half a dozen times, I came up on bags of trash that had apparently fallen out of someone’s vehicle, broke open when they hit the road, and then spread out to make an awful mess.

Again, I sort of expect that along Big Spring Road but not in some of the more remote areas.  I saw enough beer cans to keep half the county drunk.  For a week.  Fast food containers seem to be everywhere, particularly the huge soda containers that you can get “for just 29₵ more.”

Let me talk about those beer cans a bit.  Ask yourself “why would someone throw an empty six-pack of beer out on the side of the road.”  Let me let you in on a little secret:  Those came from your kids.

Yes, your underage drinkers.  I mean, some teenager has been driving around (scared yet?), drinking with their friends (now you’re scared), and they’re about to go home.  But they can’t leave their empties in the trash can at home—they will get caught.  And they can’t drop by the local market—somebody might see them.

So they toss their empties on the side of the road before they get home.  How does a 16 year old get beer?  Come on…don’t be naïve.  People aged 12 to 20 years drink 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States.  In one study, 30% of teenagers admitted to having drank alcohol in the past 30 days.  I believe that’s conservative.  But back to the trash problem.

It’s everywhere.  Off the bike, I’ve started noticing more and more.  And it seems like there are more of the broken open bags of trash out there than ever.

I just don’t understand it.  What is the mindset, what is in the brain of someone that thinks it is OK to just take their trash and throw it out the window of their car?   I don’t think it is simply that they don’t care.  I think they never learned the lessons of personal responsibility for the world we live in.

If you are taking a load of trash to the landfill, you’re supposed to secure it in your vehicle (usually a truck or trailer).  You should at least make sure that it is secure enough that it won’t easily blow off. 

And if it does blow off, for goodness sake go back and pick it up!  It’s your trash regardless of where it is.

Watch out for the FLU

I started this column last week.  Talking about the flu and all.  Then I woke up in the middle of the night with all this chest congestion.  The next day wasn’t too bad but that night it hit me.  Hard.

I didn’t waste any time, seeing my Dr. Kevin Turner early that next morning.  The verdict?  The flu.  He actually had me diagnosed when he walked in the door.  Temperature 101.2.   Blood pressure…well, let’s not talk about it.

This thing kicked me in the butt.   I’m in pretty good health.  Exercise daily.  I can’t imagine what it would do to someone not so healthy.   That’s why it is so dangerous.

The hospital is pretty full of folks with the flu.  Not to be taken lightly, I see a lot of folks taking extra precautions to avoid getting sick.

I see masks on a lot of people, both in the hospital and around town.  Of course, hand sanitizer can be found all over the place.  There have been a number of deaths, usually among the oldest and youngest among us.  The most vulnerable.

How do you know if you have the flu?  You usually have a fever (but not always).  Cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, chills, and fatigue are all signs that you might have the flu.

Does everybody with the flu need to head to the emergency room?  Probably not.  Emergency rooms are great places for serious medical issues but flu and virus can often best be handled by your primary care physician.

What should you watch for?  In children, you may see fast breathing or trouble breathing, signs of dehydration, lethargy, fever, persistent cough.  If your child exhibits those, seek medical care immediately. 

This stuff has a weird tendency to get better then return with a vengeance.  If that happens, that’s might really be the reason to head for the emergency room.

This flu stuff is anything but ordinary.   In adults, if you have difficulty breathing, pressure in your chest, dizziness or confusion, you need to get it checked.  Immediately. 

As for me, there was no way I was going to work.  I had legitimate concerns about exposing my patients to it but the bottom line is that I felt like crap.  In 40 years of clinical practice, I had missed 2 days due to illness.  Because of this episode of the flu, I missed days 3, 4, 5, and 6. 

I had to argue with my wife about returning on that next day.   But I felt fine and was no longer contagious.  And I’d like to think that my patients needed me.

So.  What do you do?   If you have to be around folks that have flu-like symptoms, wear a mask.  Yeah, it looks silly but you don’t want to mess around with this stuff.

Use hand sanitizer all the time.  And keep your hands out of your mouth.  Always. 

Don’t drink after others.  Don’t share food, plates, or utensils.  As much as it pains me to say it, be careful who you kiss.

Trust me on this one.  I don’t want to go through this again.  Ever.

Live a Life of Significance

I want to make a difference in this world.  Always have.  Always will.

If you've only known me as an adult, I hope that would come as no surprise to you.  But if you knew me growing up, it might be a complete surprise.

I was a good kid.  Decent grades.  Respectful.  Boy Scout.  Active in my church.  But nothing about me growing up would get you too excited.  Painfully average, I would say.  Boring maybe.

I guess I had my moments.  I remember one time one of my high school teachers spread the rumor that Ronnie McNabb and I had egged her house one Saturday night.  We didn't do it. 

I dropped by her house the next morning after church with my mom in the car and asked her why she was spreading those rumors. (Yes, the rumor was already out there the next morning--I heard about it at church before I could even get in the door.  Such is life in a small town.)

She came to the door but had one of those chain things like hotels have so she only opened the door a little bit.  "You did it Joe Black!  I saw you!"

Honestly, I didn't do it.  But the next weekend her house got seriously egged but I have no earthly idea how that could have happened.

We didn't have a lot but we always had food on the table and a roof over our heads.  We had bee hives, cherry trees, and a good sized garden.  And I was gainfully employed from age 10 on.

But you know what?  All that means nothing.  Even the infrequent naysayer that I encountered along the way couldn't stand in the way of me pursuing my dreams.

Play football?   Too slow to be a back, too little to be a lineman.  Somehow I made it work pretty well.

First one in my family to attend college?  No problem.  I was actually never NOT going to college.  I still have no idea how my parents did that. 

The perfect family and great kids?  Got that one in spades!  Married to the same person for almost 42 years now.  I've got great kids and the best grandkids ever.   I actually knew when I was a child that I wanted to be a father.   It's the best gig ever.

A job that let me do something I loved?   Been doing it for over 40 years now.  Sometimes I want to pinch myself to see if I'm dreaming.

Rich?  Travel?  Famous?  None of those things was in my dreams.  I just wanted to be happy and healthy.

So, how do you get there?  How do you have the life you want?

First, dream big.  Don't let anyone limit your dreams.  Anybody that tells you that you can't--cut them out of your life. 

Give yourself a road map to get there.  Pursue those dreams with vigor and determination.  Whatever they may be.

And never give up.  If a door closes, look for a window.  If you make mistakes (and you will), learn from them, grow from them, and move on.  Have no regrets.  Leave no stone unturned on your path to what you want out of life.  Live a life of significance.

Using Technology in the Pursuit of Good Health

Do you remember when we used to have to call a phone number to get the time & temperature?  We really used to do that.  Really. It was most often provided by a bank.  A lot of those same banks listed the time and temperature on a sign out front. 

And the weather radar...you used to have to wait until the 6 o'clock news to see a weather radar.  We used to make our plans for the next day based on Margie's weather predictions.

Not so much anymore.  Now we just look at our phone.  Want to know the weather in Singapore?  Three clicks and you've got it.  See if it is going to rain this afternoon?  It's in there.

Oh, and maps.  We used to use maps to tell us how to get where we wanted to go.  Now we just punch a button, give our destination, and the directions are provided to us as we travel.  "Turn right in 100 yards."  Or punch one button and tell Siri "find the nearest Starbucks" and she will do it for you and tell you how to get there.

Did you know that the same phone can help you achieve your health and fitness goals? 

A lot of people are counting their steps these days.   I see lots of reports about that.  "I got 15,000 steps today!"   That one's pretty cool.

A lot of bikers use Strava to give them the data from their ride such as distance, speed, average speed, and total climbed.  (BTW, none of these apps pay me anything for listing them here.)

I've got Strava but don't use it much for a couple of reasons.  One, most of the time all I'm trying to do is keep up with Steve Bright.  That takes about all I've got.  I don't need data to help me there.  Secondly, I don't like to carry my phone on the bike.  That is my time to escape the phone.

I've got an app on my phone that gives my walking/running distance, steps taken, and flights of stairs climbed.  Every day.  I don't have to do anything.  On any given day, it is there.  Since my phone is in my pocket pretty much all the time I'm not on my bike or asleep, it's pretty accurate. 

I use another to chart my blood pressure.  The cool thing about this is that I can drop the data to my Primary Care Physician. 

There are a bunch of apps to help you with your diet.  You can monitor what you eat, when you eat it, count your calories, and remind you to hydrate.  With the help of a watch or chest strap, you can monitor your sleep, the quality of your sleep, and can measure your heart rate during sleep. 

You can get a personal fitness coach, a workout of the day, or a link to the closest gym.  You can get an app to help you daily with stretching, meditation, or yoga.  The list is endless.

Healthier Tennessee is a program that has several parts that will help you with developing better health habits.  Their app is a free download.  It's really handy and offers a feature called "Small Starts" that is an easy way to take those small steps that seem necessary to get started.  It encourages better hydration, better eating, more sleeping, and more activity.  Try it.  I think you'll like it.

Like any tool, these things only work if you use them.  But the technology is out there for you to use.  Won't you take that first step today?