My Bonus Life began...

April 11, 2010 is indelibly etched in my mind...it was that day my Bonus Life began, because my life almost ended. Without any doubt in my mind whatsoever I KNOW THAT I KNOW THAT I KNOW in the deepest... part of my "knower" that April day was my NEW START...why? Because that is the day I nearly died. The day started for me about 4 am when I woke up & headed straight for the bathroom with what I thought was simply some intense abdominal pain, within minutes I was crying out loud from the pain, calling on/REALLY screaming for my sleeping family members for help. When my son asked me if the excruciating pain in my shoulder that I described to him in a yell was in both shoulders or just one & I screamed, "...just one every time I try to take a breath!" He stated with experience from first aid in the Navy, that if it was in both it would indicate internal bleeding...at that moment it dawned on me that 25 years earlier I went through an experience with my then fiancé (his father), where a sharp pain in the shoulder along with intense abdominal pain actually was an early indicator of an abdominal abcess. But what in the world could I have to abcess about? (Hee hee, it sounds like it should read obsess!) Then came the 911 call...with me SCREAMING LOUDLY NONSTOP IN THE BACKGROUND thru the whole call; then the paramedics that I'd become semi-familiar with, transporting me & caring for me for the 5 minute ride to University Hospital. (They had come to help us with my Mom who was 86, on occasions where she's had health crises...so I knew their faces, and thank them sincerely for their calm response to my constant screams of pain...painkillers are wonderful even thru IV's started on the road in the ambulance!!) The rest of the day is a painfilled blur of consistent pain meds being given (this was

amazing to me) 4 different tests being performed to find the answer of the cause of my excruciating & debilitating pain, and a Emergency Department staff of professionals that did not simply stop with pain management and send me home (although at one point, when they seemed stumped by the origin they did communicate the thought that they might send me home; but I told them I wasn't going anywhere until they figured this out & fixed it!). So they kept after the cause & how to treat to cure instead of treating the symptom. I will forever be grateful for the E.R. Resident who said, "Instead of trying to send you home to manage the pain, I'm going to present your case to the OB-GYN docs and ask them to come evaluate you." Of course the sending you home to manage the pain comment was met with a look from me that said, "THAT'S NOT HAPPENING!" which made her all the more committed to getting them to take a good look at the degree of pain & my test result that showed an ovarian cyst the size of an orange. To make a long story interesting...and to cut to the chase...they came, they poked & prodded, they saw and they decided that the only way to cause the pain to cease was to do the fun little laporoscopy procedure (3 small incisions, quick & easy, in & get the culprit out.) to see if that was indeed the cause of all this horrid pain and remove the cyst while they were at it. Doctors going into surgery always have to talk about all possible versions/possible alternatives should they find more than they bargain for...you know me...I'm a party in & of myself...and this was NO EXCEPTION!! This is where the party begins...I go into a simple 1 hour surgery and 3 1/2 hours later come out with more fun than they ever bargained for. That cyst had leaked at some point and covered my insides with infected fluid, so they had a clean up job to do in addition to removing the cyst & accompanying ovary (which I no longer need and which couldn't be separated from the cyst) along the lines of wanting to hose down & suck up with a shop vac...a shop floor after a serious kegger has ended; and that's sort of what they did. While they were in the vacinity and to make sure there weren't any other major sources for the yucky infected fluid they found as the fun began, they also decided to call in their friendly general surgeon stat, who got to check out my entire intestines, gallbladder, liver and appendix then redecorate my 24 year-old c-section scar with a redux! Hey I'm glad for the added measure of security, but honestly (and ladies you'll appreciate my sentiments the most) if you've got to be there & redux that, it would have been so nice for them to just finish it off with a good ole' tummy tuck!! Let's be honest, gravity is NO ONE'S friend over 35!! I'm just speaking the truth & we all know it! When the surgeon came to update Brian, my husband, in the waiting room, the doc told him specifics then added in his commentary..."We almost lost her twice on the operating table, she's very fortunate." Those words would come as a shock and surprise to me almost a year later, when Brian finally shared them with me as we were recounting the experience with a friend who asked what had happened. When I ruminated on those words I was more convicted than ever that I had, in fact, been VERY fortunate and my BONUS Life had indeed begun that Sunday in April. PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!!!