YOLO!

When I started as a nuclear tech almost twenty five years ago, I was trained to use a dark room to develop film. It was awesome. I remember stepping into the miniature revolving door, turning around, spinning the door and voila, pitch blackness. We played many tricks on each other in there. The films were put in the processor a particular way and the cassettes loaded with unexposed film. I bet I could load those cassettes still…hold the cassette open in my left hand, put the notch in the film in the right upper corner with my right hand, slide it into the cassette from the top. Then, wait out by the machine to make sure I captured the images I needed.  I had one shot to get it right. Today most everything is digital, including radiology. If I take an image upside down, I can rotate it on the computer. I can make organs different colors, speed motion studies, slow them down. I can watch a heart beat, blood flow, egg digest.

Technology is pretty cool. It's a great tool used for all sorts of daily life. Technology can also be a great means of miscommunication, poor grammar and laziness.  Today there are all sorts of words and phrases that didn’t exist even a couple of years ago. For example:  bae,  cray cray, totes adorbs, yaasss, YOLO.  I’ve heard all these “words” out of my teenager’s mouth. And, I’m guessing they are outdated already. What in the world is “bae”?   I Googled it…what in the world is “Googled”?  Anyway, Google says that “bae” means a significant other. My husband has never called me “bae”, thank the heavens.  I actually kind of like cray cray. I wonder why?  One of the acronyms I don’t care much for is “YOLO”. I saw it on a shirt and had to ask my teen what it meant. “YOLO” means “You Only Live Once”.  At first I kind of thought that YOLO was catchy. I’m all for reaching for the stars, setting goals, accomplishing more, living the dream.  But, as I thought about it, and heard it used, I think  it can be used as an excuse to do foolish things, make poor choices, take chances that are harmful or dangerous. Although, if someone asked me to drop everything and fly to Tahiti for a week, I’d have to say, “Let me grab my passport, YOLO!”

Jade had some imaging done to determine more about her condition. Almost every person with Spina Bifida has a tethered spinal cord. Jade is no exception. A healthy spinal cord usually terminates (ends) in the lower lumbar region. Jade’s cord extends all the way down to her sacrum area. It is

tethered to some fat there. As she grows the cord and associated nerves will stretch.  She could start to have numbness, pain, gate changes, worsening incontinence. As of now, she is stable. She is doing all she’s done since we brought her home. She is amazing. The pediatric neurosurgeon we met is a nice man. He operates on children’s spines and brains. I can’t even imagine. He talked with us about Jade’s spine.  He talked with us about surgery to free nerves from tissue. It is a very risky operation. Lasers cut through nerves as easily as fat or scar tissue. He is not anxious to operate on Jade.  Until Jade has issues, he will leave her back alone.

Dr. Neurosurgeon encouraged us to keep Jade busy. In his experience the children who are involved in activities are the happiest. They want to participate in activities with their peers. He mentioned karate and swimming. He agreed with Jade’s Spina Bifida doctor that if she can do it, let her do it. I think that advice gives a whole new meaning to YOLO. There may come a day when Jade can’t jump, when she can’t dance, can’t walk. There may come a day when Jade has to have surgery on her spinal cord. There may come a day when Jade’s life changes, not for the worse, just different. So, when my sweet daughter in law called about skiing over Christmas break, we talked about who would want to join her.  I think our teenagers, maybe some cousins, aunts and uncles will all want to go skiing. I told her that I would want to stay at a place with a pool because Jade can’t ski. My daughter in law is a truth speaking, warm, intelligent young woman. Her question to me was, “Why not?” I had to stop and think about that. If Jade can ski, then she can ski. YOLO!