Health Post 1 - March Madness

The weekend of March 20, I stayed with Tom and Stephanie in Columbus so we could all go to Rob's going away party. Tom is my middle son, Stephanie, my new (1 year now) daughter in law. Rob is my nephew who, at the age of 38, enlisted in the Army so he could find a better way to take care of his family, Donna, his wife, and his three daughters; Maggie, Sandy, and Julia. John couldn't come down, can't remember why but it probably had to do with work.

On the way back on Sunday, I started to feel really sick. That middle of the abdomen pressure gall bladder feeling that I get once in a while. I almost pulled over, but managed to get home without incident. From that point on, I had a pain in my right side when I would take a deep breath. This wasn't a huge pain at first, and I could work and do a lot of things without noticing it. But it did not go away.

In addition to my fear of going to the doctor in general, I have had so many structural problems, that I typically take an "it will go away eventually" attitude. That worked with sciatica, for instance. Didn't work with the hip - you can't ignore arthritis forever. But since I have arthritis in my back as well, I am used to pulling something or having something painful going on that eventually stops hurting.

So lesson number one - IF SOMETHING HURTS, GO TO THE DOCTOR. Even if you think s/he's likely to say: "That's nothing, it will go away."