1001 challenge; thoughtful thursday

I’m wandering round the garden very early this morning - our replacement dishwasher is scheduled to be delivered at 7.00am. Anniemay is still in the Land of Nod in blissful ignorance.

The colours of this rose (The Shepherdess) - especially the buds - attract my attention. I chose this particular image because the rose is not perfect. There are signs of ageing and, perhaps, disease on the outer petals; cue image of rose as metaphor for life.

Perhaps it’s too obvious though? - life is beautiful but there are some nasty things out there waiting to get us.

It’s actually the buds that I’m drawn to - not just the colour but their role in all this. This is probably sparked by monday’s blip on perceptions of age. As we get older, there are young buds waiting to take our place. This is of course, in the grand scheme of things, ‘a good thing’. Unless the young buds are in a hurry; then we have the advantages of constant renewal (good for the species) versus the impatience of youth (not so good for the individual).

This train of thought is interrupted - (which is probably another example of ‘a good thing’) - by a phone call. It’s the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham; they offer me a date for the operation to try and repair my vocal cords - end of October - is this convenient? I say ‘yes’ of course. There’s plenty of time to back out before then.

The risk of it actually making my voice worse is estimated to be 30%. At first glance that looks like the risk of making it better is 70%. But it’s not - it may make no difference at all. The real risk of improvement is less than 70%. Perhaps much less - we just don’t know. In the words of Donald Rumsfeld - 'it’s a known unknown.'

Then there’s the risk of surgery. There’s a lot of cardiovascular traffic flowing through the neck.

Now we can get out the scales; on the one side, risk of deterioration plus risk of surgery and on the other, chances of real improvement. Which way does it tilt? No idea. I think we’re moving into the realm of unknown unknowns. (And I never thought I'd use that in a sentence).

So - a lot to think about this thursday.

Do I feel lucky. Well - do I?