I always remind myself (and Sharon) that everything can change in 24 hours. We may hear back from a job or graduate school application sending us (or just one of us) to another city, an earthquake may change the course of our lives and thousands of others, and the triumphs or struggles of friends and family may shift our worldviews irrevocably.
And unfortunately health concerns have their place. Last Monday at work I started feeling a slight pain in my abdomen in the morning, and as I tried to continue working the pain increased. The pain also made my stomach upset, so overall I was feeling bad. I sat down and tried to breathe slowly and figure out what the problem was. I made a few phone calls, and Danny (in nursing school now) asked me how it felt if I put pressure on it. I stood up and felt a shock of pain and put my hand on my abdomen and felt a lump. Great. I put my palm on it and pressed lightly, and I could feel the lump decrease. So -- a hernia, great. My coworker saw me in pain and and we got everything together to go back to the shop. I called my doctor and made an appointment for that night. She confirmed my suspicion of a hernia and scheduled a CT scan for the next day, which confirmed the diagnosis.
So here I am, injured and going down a road I never thought I would be on.Workers' compensation will kick in, fortunately, because I can't work until I heal (there is not much I can do at work that is not strenuous). My next few weeks include surgery to repair the hernia and some recovery time. This past Sunday when I was not looking forward to a week of manual labor in the cold I would never have thought that I would be lying on a table for a CT scan two days later, but here I am with my life taking a change of course that I hadn't planned on - and all the questions that come with it.
