The details are not important, but I had the amazing opportunity recently to spend some quality time at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The care provided by my doctors and the team of nurses and technicians was fantastic. I could not have asked for more and was blessed with good results.

But during the time in the hospital room, between checkups by the nurses, refills of my IV and what seemed like hourly checks of my vitals, I became very familiar with the television remote.

You might think to yourself, “What an odd thing to choose to reflect on from a six-day stay in the hospital,” but I had plenty of time on my hands.

For such a medically advanced facility, with cutting-edge technology at nearly every level, the remote was a bit basic. And for someone like me, who enjoys the play of a good remote, navigating channels back and forth between commercials, having a remote with just one button sending channels in just one direction was, let’s just say, a bit stressful.

You read that right, the remote allowed the user to move the channels up one channel at a time. And if you left a channel, you had to navigate your way, one channel at a time, all the way back around, at which time you likely had forgotten what number channel you were on to begin with.

Now, again, you understand the stress.

This is in no way a complaint, but merely a suggestion for improvement.

I am of the generation that grew up with three channels and no remote control. For my parents, I was the remote control. And when my sister came along and was old enough to walk, she became the remote.

Today’s remote controls are works of art and marvels of advancements in technology. Many can be controlled by the user’s voice, and I am pretty certain mind control is just around the corner.

As an admitted “flipper,” I am able to change channels back and forth between two-to-three shows or games without missing any of the action or plot lines. I can catch the beginning of one line of dialogue in a show, catch the 3-2 count in the baseball game and be back in time before the line of dialogue is complete.

So again, you can understand the stress of just one button moving just one channel at a time.

My stay at UMMC was a success. The surgery went well and the recovery is continuing nicely. I have been blessed with plenty of well-wishes and it’s been nice to get back to some sort of a “normal” schedule at work.

It’s also been nice to get back to my remote. And just in time for football season.

Tim Reeves is editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at tim.reeves@vicksburgpost.com.