February 28, 2026 | WALLS 102 - Part 2

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Paperwork: A spine-tingling adventure is teaching me life lessons

Please celebrate with me – the coffee spill on the kitchen floor is gone.It was bugging me after I saw it this morning. I decided I needed to do something. “I can do this,” I told myself.I tore off a strip of paper towel, soaked it with water and dropped it on the stain. Then I picked up a little tool I call “The Grabber” that was leaning by the back door. I shoved it into the paper towel and wiped the stain with my makeshift “mop.” Then I squeezed the trigger on my Grabber, clutched the paper towel, lifted it and dropped it in the trash bin. Voila! Mission accomplished. And welcome to my world now. It’s been like this since Feb. 17, when I had a little outpatient surgery they call a laminectomy on one of my lumbars. The surgeon did a good job explaining the process, showing me an MRI image and his small spine toy, where he pointed out the culprit. One of my lumbars was putting the squeeze on a pretty important nerve. Which explained the weeks of pain shooting up my left leg … and my “clown foot.” My leg and foot muscles are not getting clear messages from the brain, so when I walk, my left foot just flops on the ground as if I had on one of those large shoes clowns wear. My wife has done the research and tries to correct me: “It’s called drop foot.” Whatever. I feel like a clown. My surgeon expects my leg to recover after some physical therapy, yet to come. He did some scraping to give the nerve more room to heal and do its job.I have a real appreciation now for the simple process we call bending over. I cannot put on my socks or shoes. And you know what I had to do to clean up a spill on the floor. My wife has been my crutch, doing the bending and fetching for me. I am not allowed to lift more than 10 pounds, no twisting, no lifting arms too high, stuff like that. Today she’s back at work, so I’m on my own. And that coffee spill became a personal challenge. I can sit comfortably for a short while, but I must walk about the house every hour. I try to do that. It’s boring, but my dog is amused, watching me wander around like I’m confused. Long before this calamity, I tried to be careful with lifting. I know the rules: “Bend your knees! Bend your knees!” But now I have a deeper appreciation for my spine. Daily routines show how important it is to be able to bend at the waist and lean over. I never thought of it as a skill until I couldn’t do it. Remember that the next time you drop something. And join me in feeling deep sympathy for the many who endure such pain every day without a solution.Here’s a fact from the Spine Health Foundation website, spinehealth.org: “The spine is central to the entire human body and is one of the most critical yet often underappreciated and misunderstood body parts we have.”It does a lot more than let us stand, sit and bend. Nerves run like a bundle of wires through the spinal cord, which lets the brain tell the body what to do or not to do. My plan is to do what I can to let the brain have full communication again with my left leg and that floppy foot. I’m feeling positive about what’s ahead. If my Grabber falls on the floor, however, I will have a problem.• Lonny Cain, retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa, also was a reporter for The Herald-News in Joliet in the 1970s. His PaperWork email is lonnyjcain@gmail.com. Or mail the NewsTribune, 426 Second St., La Salle IL 61301.

Paperwork: A spine-tingling adventure is teaching me life lessons

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My surgeon expects my leg to recover after some physical therapy, yet to come. He did some scraping to give the nerve more room to heal and do its job.

Paperwork: A spine-tingling adventure is teaching me life lessons

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Paperwork: A spine-tingling adventure is teaching me life lessons

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Putnam County library district offers virtual reality and history programs

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Putnam County library district offers virtual reality and history programs

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Mendota City Council renews proclamation for motorcycle awareness

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