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Editor's Blog

Ruminations from flat on my back We hear it all the time; we know it to be true, but we still forget – nothing is as valuable as our health. By Susan BelknappPublished: August, 2010

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So two weeks ago I was working as fast as I could to get everything done for our August issue deadline before I went on a long-planned, long-awaited vacation with friends. Thursday, July 22, I woke up ready to attack the hundreds of tiny loose ends I had to tie up before heading out to San Francisco Friday afternoon. I jumped in the shower. I sat down to have breakfast and do my makeup. I dashed off a couple of emails. And then I stood up and thought, “Uh oh.” Something was wrong. I’ve had lower back issues on an off since I was bussing tables as a teenager and they come and go. Last summer I experienced a major flare-up of a tender spot that sits latent between my right hip and tailbone, ready to roar to life when I bend wrong, get back on a workout regimen or at “certain times of the month.” Maybe this is momentary pain. It will calm down in just a few. Please. I dried my hair and by the time I was heading out the door, I was hobbling quite badly. I grabbed my trusty gel ice pack and headed out the door. Well, things got worse and worse and by the time I left work I was miserable. I was supposed to go to the annual O.C. Press Club awards dinner, but I knew I couldn’t get through that. My pre-paid vacation began to flash before my eyes. How in the world am I going to get on a plane tomorrow? Well, I’ll spare you all the grizzly details, but by late that night, I couldn’t even stand, much less walk. Where does something like that come from? I wasn’t in an accident. I didn’t fall. I didn’t even bend wrong. In the blink of an eye, with nothing significant occurring, I went from totally fine to unable to walk or stand in 12 hours. That’s scary. Two weeks have passed and I limped through my trip in a lot of pain. Getting out of bed every morning was excruciating and of course with every spasm I vowed to cherish the moment when I could do regular, mundane tasks with some semblance of normalcy. My heart goes out to people like my sister who have chronic conditions, who must endure pain every minute of every day with no end in sight. My issue is painful, but I never thought it was permanent, and for that I am truly grateful. So, if you are feeling great right now, take a moment and just savor it. If you are feeling a little achy, which is probably how the vast majority of people feel at some point of every day, savor that too, as it could certainly be worse. To those who go through their lives in chronic pain, you are heroic. It is so easy to see how depression can set in with the lack of mobility and where every small task demands Herculean effort. I can’t imagine how you do it. For those of us who have never experienced that type of debilitation, it’s impossible to even comprehend. And for those, like me, who get a firm reminder from our bodies to not take them for granted, remember to savor the day when you can wake up and get right out of bed or not think twice when you drop something because picking it up is effortless. I promise I will. Follow me on twitter: @susebelk Email me: sbelknapp@churmmedia.com PREVIOUS POSTS 7-20-10 Passion 6-30-10 All-Star Eats 6-23-10 Gotta sing? 6-16-10 Garden Grove’s Hyatt Regency Orange County 6-2-10 Shining Students 6-9-10 Working Moms 5-24-10 Camp Fire centennial 5-17-10 What do you want to be? 5-10-10 Happy Mother's Day 4-30-10 Brazilian Blowout 4-21-10 A thing of beauty 4-8-10 All-Star Fan Fest 3-24-10 Power of story 3-17-10 Baby beat 3-2-10 O.C. Camp Fair 2-25-10 Prevailing value of EVERY mom 2-19-10 I interrupt this blog ... 2-15-10 Shining Students nominations 2-10-10 Anaheim Ducks take flight 2-5-10 'It Takes a Village' Redux 2-1-10 A new day

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