When the hits keep coming, you stay humble...

2022 has not been the year I expected despite a LOT of knowledge going in. Yes, I knew that the year would be a busy one. Yes, regardless of your personal feelings and attitudes, we are still experiencing the pandemic. Let's try to get over ourselves. Many people are tired. Many others are angry. I get it. All the hyperbole we were given about "getting back to normal" and the "new normal" (can that even be defined?) was just that - hyperbole. For many people, including myself, 2022 represented uncertainties. Perhaps uncertain expectations and/or outcomes is a more accurate way to state it. Close friends whose careers were drastically altered in the previous years of the pandemic have collectively experienced a bounce back so to speak. The uncertainty I personally had heading into 2022 had nothing to do with career or finances or anything of that nature. The uncertainty was how the many projects I had on the burners would come to fruition.Would it be possible? Could I actually pull everything off? The answer was NO, but I am not completely disappointed in myself. This site does represent a project of mine that has been withering on the vine in 2022. It's a disappointment for me, true but to be honest there were many other endeavors that were much more important and time consuming. I had to place things in their proper priority and truly see the big picture.

2022 has had many successes for me in both my personal and professional lives. My girlfriend of many years asked ME to marry her, and I said yes without hesitation. I was blown away how she flipped the script and put herself out there. She is stronger than she gives herself credit for. This is among the many reasons I love her as much as I do. Truth be told, from rather early on in our relationship I had been behaving as if I were already her husband. In my mind, her and I becoming husband and wife was an eventuality. She continues to grow and display such a strength that I am so proud of. In turn, she alloows me to grow as well by challenging me when I need it. I am lucky to have a woman like her in my life and our futures will be very bright together. There have been some challenges though. My, now fiancee, injured her right ankle earlier in the year and very recently had the ankle almost completely reconstructed/repaired. (I may dedicate another post to go into the details of the procedure.) She remains on bed rest and cannot do ANY weight baring activities. So far, her recovery is going well. There were nights immediately after her surgery where she sobbed herself to sleep, and that would only last about an hour whereby the pain would wake her again. That was hard to see and left me feeling very defeated because there simply wasn't anything I could do.

I am happy that she was able to make the decision to undergo such a big surgery and that I am able to care for her as she recovers. I think this event happened at the best time in our relationship. Having gotten engaged in July with surgery happening earlier this month it solidified our commitment to each other as well as the realization that we can care for one another. The relationship, the engagement, the successful surgery and recovery to this point, are all a resounding success with a bow on top. I am truly grateful.

Work has been pretty busy of which I am thankful for. I have always found that during the more difficult times in life either work or study have both been a chance to knuckle down mentally and try to focus on getting [fill in the blank] DONE. Besides the usual activities and commitments my career demands of me and that carry me through a typical calendar year, a larger project finally came to fruition. Preparations over the past three years have lead to another success for not only myself but for one of my clients most importantly. In short, my client had a major spinal surgery involving fixing a deformity of the sacral spine that caused a misalignment of the hips due to bone-on-bone contact along with direct bending of nerves of the spine. The initial procedure involved grafting into the lumber spine which already had a 30+ year infusion creating a "scaffold" of sorts around the sacral spine to realign the sacral spine and relieve pressure on the nerves.

Upon opening up my client to perform the above procedure, the surgeon found thaqt the 30+ year old hardware that had existed at the lumber spine fusion to be severely out of date and in need of some upgrading in order for this corrective/reconstructive procedure to actually work. This required much more time under the knife, which had myself and my client's family worried. However, despite the extra time needed to complete the procedure, the overall outcome was nothing short of outstanding. We were so lucky to have been able to acquire such a surgeon in the first place. The surgeon is known as "the man" when it comes to neurosurgeries involving spinal deformations in my region of the country. The surgeon was more than successful at not only upgrading nearly two pounds worth of hardware at the lumbar infusion, but correcting the alignment of the sacral spine to the point that my client's hips were returned to 85% normal alignment. The pressure on the existing nerves was also removed by implementing the sacral spine "scaffold" apparatus.

I could share ten thousand words easily trying to cover all of the technical aspects of the surgery and what my client had endured before and during the procedure. Suffice to say that the surgery was a complete success and because of this my client will not have to endure the chronic pain experienced for 30+ years. My client's family as well as my fiancee reminded me that I too needed to take a bow. I had worked so intimately with all members of my client's medical and therapuetic teams to spearhead this project ultimately leading to the successful surgery itself. This occurred through years of physical therapy, aquatic therapy, diet and adaptive exercise so my client would have both the medical health and physical strength in preparation for such a life changing surgery. I am proud of my client, proud at the recognition I have received, and humbled by how much quality of life my client will gain to carry him through the upcoming decades. When I think about it I still feel I have to pick my chin up from my lap. It more than stuns me at times still.

My client's journey is not yet over. My client will endure a recovery period that will span months along with occupational and physical therapies that will span beyond that. And rightfully so I will add given how big this surgical procedure was. So, yes, I have my hands really full along with the rest of my caseload. Cannot forget my fiancee either who relies on my support while she is on her own recovery tragectory. Some days are so uplifting while others are downright exhausting. But I've always thrived on the work not that this feels completely like work. I hope that makes sense to you all,

Although, I shouldn't have to say it I'll say it anyway. I apologize for not contributing regularly to this site. I hope to make some more consistent additions moving forward. Other aspects of 2022 I have not yet mentioned, but do look forwaqrd to sharing hopefully soon, In the meantime, have patience with me. I thank you all for sticking around.