by Juliane McAdam
I listened in disbelief to the radiologist’s
report, the results of my lumbar spine x-ray:
“severe scoliosis, severe disc disease”--
the same words I heard five years ago,
before I began my exercise regimen.
The report suggested I discuss treatment options.
I imagined him picturing an elderly woman,
in constant pain, using a walker. Ha!
Over the next week, I smiled each day on my one-mile walk,
chuckled through my one-hour Pilates workout, laughed
as I powered through ninety-pound leg presses
and fifty-pound deadlifts at the gym.
Forget the doctor—I’ll treat this my way!
***
Juliane McAdam is a California native who grew up in the stark beauty of the Mojave Desert. She spent the last 27 years of a 40-year teaching career teaching English and Spanish to middle school students in Los Angeles, writing poems with them. Now retired and living near Morro Bay on California’s beautiful Central Coast, she enjoys walks, playing piano, and writing poems to record observations and memories.