Let the Sun Shine In

It's another dreary January Monday, but I'm up and at 'em trying to squeeze every last drop out of that lemon.  What lemon you ask?

My father was hospitalized on Friday for a major, and I mean MAJOR blood clot in his leg.  He had hip replacement replacement (his first hip replacement had to be replaced) surgery a few months ago.  He has been wheelchair-bound ever since because he has not been able to put any weight on that foot.  For weeks he has been complaining about swelling and discomfort in the area, but all the health care practitioners kept telling him this is normal after surgery.

On Friday they met with the surgeon who told them, based on x-rays, the hip was healing very well and everything looked peachy.  My father mentioned, yet again, the swelling, and the surgeon finally agreed to send him for an ultrasound.  When my parents came back (after a long wait for the ultrasound), the surgeon took one look at the report and said, "This is very serious, you could die at any moment."  Needless to say this was extraordinarily traumatic.  Gotta love the bedside manner of some physicians!  My dad was then taken to hospital in an ambulance immediately.

I have gone through worrying about my mother's health already, given that she went through a breast cancer diagnosis, surgery and treatment, but this is the most serious health event for my father.  Of course it brings up all sorts of thoughts and feelings.  Part of me is really angry that for weeks everyone ignored his concerns about the swelling in that leg.  But being angry doesn't help anything, so what I'm focusing on is being grateful that the blood clot was discovered when it was and he is being treated for it.  He will be in hospital until tomorrow, and possibly may have to be on blood thinners forever, but I am going to be optimistic.

The whole incident is a reminder of how quickly life can change: my mom said the most traumatic thing was that one minute they were being told all is well and the next that the situation is dire.  Life is like that though, you never know what's around the next corner.  That's why it's important to acknowledge the beauty in our lives and not get caught up in the minutia that can way us down.

In order to assist me in my Gratitude journey, I finally bought a mood light to get me through the winter.  I want to prevent the weather from dragging me down this year. 

Just 30 minutes each morning and I'm hoping it will keep me smiling into March/April (when I usually want to jump off a bridge because if seems like winter is never going to end).  I've only been using it for 2 days so far, so I'll keep you posted.

 

Right now everything outside is wet and grey.  But on the bright side, the temperature has warmed up significantly.  The rain might not be nice, but it's melting all the snow, and I was even able to bike to the gym yesterday!  I think I'm even going to ride to work today.

So today, day 13 of my Gratitude Journey, I am grateful the blood clot was caught last week and it looks like my dad is going to be okay.