CTS surgery date set; big new TV bought

My open carpal tunnel release surgery has been set for March 26th, hallelujah! I’ve spent a lot of the day today interviewing possible backups for when I will be out and starting the process for benefits and the like. I will be out of work for at least three weeks. I plan to spend that time testing the brand new flat screen we bought today by watching all my Lord of the Rings DVDs (and all the extras) in giant, high-definition color.

No, we’re not rolling in cash; one incentive for purchasing our house was a Best Buy gift card which paid for the television. We’ve had an empty spot in our family room since we moved in and have been watching our old TV in our upstairs loft. My husband can’t wait to watch the ACC Tournament on the big screen, and to tell the truth, neither can I. Shopping for the TV tonight was almost anti-climatic, we’d been dreaming about getting this thing for so many months!

So now I just have to manage the pain for the next three weeks or so, until I have to manage my post-op pain. Considering that we just bought a new house and a brand new TV, talking to three people today who were recently laid off, and the recent topics on this blog, make that seem pretty damned trivial when I look at the big picture. My hands might hurt, but I have health insurance that is going to enable me to repair my condition. I might not live in a mansion, but I have a nice new home when a lot of people don’t have any such thing. I am married to a great guy when a lot of people are alone. I have a pretty great job when a lot of people are unemployed. And I am alive when I could easily be dead.

I say these things not to make anyone in pain feel worse but only to proclaim my gratefulness to the larger universe. If I don’t wake up tomorrow, I will at least have said, at this moment, I knew what I had. And for every moment, now and now and now, I will know it is good.