Winter Olympics

I love the Winter Games, both sports and knitting. Four years ago I designed and knit myself a coat. I was a fairly new machine knitter and wanted to stretch my skills. I had a great time and was a successful medalist. This year is a different story. Much like the weather in Vancouver my life has been experiencing some unfavorable conditions for an Olympic competition.

Right before Christmas I was experiencing some really painful backaches, but between the holidays and the standard female issues, had to put off the visit to my doctor until January 4. When I went in I insisted on a full female exam, which like most women I truly despise. Nothing makes your day like having your doctor ask you if you are sure that there is no way that you are twelve weeks pregnant. I pointed out that Christmas would be moving to July if that were the case. (Never let it be said that I'm not a smart a.. in the face of potential problems.) Additional testing and consultations with a GYN resulted in me being scheduled for surgery to remove a defective part on the fifteenth, three days into the Games. In the run up to this, I had all a complete physical which said I was incredibly healthy, great heart, good cholesterol, clean lungs, everything else checked out A-OK. Just a bad part, one the warranty had evidently run out on. And I'm cleaning my house, cross country skiing, shoveling snow, dealing with parental health issues. In other words living a normal life.

I had let a several friends and a few family members in on my health issues, but not my mother. About the time this all happened she was having health issues of her own, a newly diagnosed diabetic, she was having a hard time getting it under control. I was forced to tell her on the eleventh, when she called to tell me that she had scheduled a meeting with the dietitian for herself, my father and me for the seventeenth. My sister drove me to the hospital and stayed with me all day, our pastor waited with her through the surgery.

My understanding of the events that morning are that they opened me up and the endometriosis was so bad, that the intern thought it was really cool, and the team couldn't believe I had actually been able to cross country ski the day before. The surgery was extensive to remove the diseased tissue and separate it from my healthy organs. A complete hysterectomy was performed. When I woke up in recovery, it was later than I expected and my only question was how much was removed? (Everything) My first question to my sister, was Do I get to keep my hair. (Yes).  I spent the day in and out of consciousness and hooked up to a morphine pump.  What was supposed to be an overnight stay, last four days, and the one week recovery at my sister's house became ten days.  Needless to say I didn't meet my Olympic challenge.  But life happens.