Two Lessons Learned from 2024
What a year 2024 has been! It’s been quite an eventful year at Premier Physical Therapy and in our home. I’d like to briefly share two things I’ve learned this year with you.
One: First and foremost, we are nothing without our health. Sure, having good social support from friends and family is important, and being comfortable in your finances is great. But if you don’t have your health, life is much more challenging.
I learned this lesson during COVID when I was working in home health, traveling from house to house in Gaston County. I was helping to take care of largely underprivileged folks after heart attacks, strokes, hospitalizations, etc. Unfortunately, I lost nearly a dozen of my patients due to COVID and complications from sickness. It was heartbreaking every time it happened because I was helping as much as I could, but I simply wasn’t in control of whether my patients were making good, consistent health decisions.
However, I appear to have unlearned this lesson in 2024 because in Q2 of this year, I significantly jeopardized my own health by getting needless staph infections in both of my legs. These infections turned septic at the end of May 2024 and it put me in the hospital for 3 days. This was largely self-inflicted, as was the large hospital bill that needed to get paid after.
When I arrived in the emergency room of Huntersville Medical Center one morning in May, the ER physician told me bluntly that I had about a 10% chance of leaving the hospital in a body bag. That scared me half to death. No more risk-taking like that! And that leads us nicely to lesson number two.
Two: Raising a child is hard. I’ve always known it would be challenging to raise a child, but I’m not sure I fully appreciated it until Simon came along. So for all of you parents out there, I have a huge amount of respect for you, especially those who have been doing it for years and years! You all make it look so easy! What’s your secret?
When I was hospitalized in May, Eliza had to unexpectedly play single mom for the 3-day weekend. She put on a brave face and did an incredible job, as she always does. As I laid helpless in the hospital bed, it made me more thankful that I have such a wonderful support system behind me. My family means everything to me, and they are the prime motivator behind why Premier Physical Therapy exists in the first place.
So thank you for the opportunity to help take care of you, whether it’s rehabbing from an injury or surgery, or working on injury prevention. It’s an honor and a privilege to work with each and every one of you. I appreciate you and hope you have a wonderful holiday season. And if you have a tough time around the holiday season, just remember that you are appreciated by our little community. We’re here for you.