Health Update

Who knew that turning 40 would mean so many parts of my body would start breaking down? I still have nearly 4 months till my birthday, but it seems it's like a car approaching 100,000 miles. I don't have to actually hit the mark for everything to start to deteriorate.

Gallbladder. It seems that the reason they can't get any pictures of my gallbladder is that it is most likely so full of gall stones that they can neither picture it from the outside nor get a dye inside to illuminate it. So I'm being referred to a surgeon. My appointment with him is April 2. We will discuss whether it should stay or whether it should go. (The gallbladder, that is.) It will most likely need to come out at some point, so I have to decide whether to pre-empt an emergency situation. I have had very little pain from it in recent weeks, though I am sometimes aware that it's there. I don't normally "feel" the presence of my organs. Weird. I'll keep you posted.

At the moment I have a more pressing issue - my eyes. Ever since my bronchitis they have been aching off and on, and I've had trouble focusing them. At times I can't read or look at the computer. It started out very sporadically and now is almost constant. It's very hard to do my job without reading. My eyes ache a lot, even when they're closed. I'm hoping I just need new glasses. Mine have always been for distance, and I don't wear them a lot. But this isn't working at all. I'm going to the eye doctor Wednesday, something I dread because I have passed out during a majority of the times I've visited eye doctors. It's really not fun.

In my own head I'm a little bit of a hypochondriac. I always imagine things are worse than they really are. Someone at church told me about how most gallbladder surgeries are easy but how sometimes they nick the bowel and cause horrible damage. Not to scare me or anything. Someone else said he didn't want to scare me but that if my gall stones got stuck in a duct I could die. I need for people to be a little more pastoral around me, even if I'm the priest!! ;) Of course I started wondering how long it would take me to learn braille and how I was going to get around, when probably all I need is bifocals or something. At 40!!! Sigh...

I hope Easter brings better health.