when life gives you lemons, you have to make lemonade

“I’m sorry sir, but I’m afraid I can’t perform surgery on you. I won’t perform surgery on you.”  When my Dad heard those words come out of the doctor’s mouth, he wasn’t sure if he should be happy he wasn’t going to have to go through with it, or be upset that his problem can’t be resolved that easily. His problem is that he has an enlarged prostate, which cuts off urination flow and causes an extreme amount of pressure. He always feels the constant urge to urinate. Some days he has issues with urination some days he just can’t stop.

This inconvenience is a usual problem for a man of fifty four, but what is unusual is the fact that his urologist cannot and will not perform the surgery  needed to relieve him of his issue. The reasoning for his refusal is because of the fact my Dad has Parkinson’s. Most men his age could just go through the procedure and be done with the hassle of an enlarged prostate. My Dad has to suffer with the pain and pressure for a possible six months, because the only option he has is to take a slow-working pill that is supposed to help shrink the prostate.

Parkinson’s holds him back from this operation because this disease breaks down all muscles, and if his prostate were to be tampered with through a surgical procedure, to spare you the details he would most likely end up in diapers.

That night after hearing the news, as I was in my room texting my friends as usual teenagers do, he walked in. It was evident that he was in a lot of pain as he struggled to sit on my bed. He was complaining about how bad it was that he couldn’t just get the surgery and be done with all this.  But then, something peculiar occurred. He looked at me and was grinning from ear to ear and said, “you know this pill I’m gonna have to take is gonna make me grow hair, and I’m going bald so hey this might be good.” He was laughing hysterically, and it couldn’t help but be contagious.

It amazed me how he went from  complaining about pain to cracking up. Making something most people would view pessimistically optimistically. He was indeed turning lemons into lemonade right before my very eyes.