“[…], mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again.”

Howard W. Hunter

Beautiful words I try to live by.

I would like to say I am sending this Christmas message as I am snuggled under a blanket in my home with my family around me.

Rather, I am sending these well wishes from my hospital bed at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, MD…Merry Christmas to me 😞

For the last week or so, I thought I was beset with the flu, since it touched everyone else in my family. I was vomiting, diarrhea, no appetite, fever, fatigued, etc. But I also had weird abdominal pain on my right side right around the ribs.

After a couple of days, all the symptoms cleared except for the fatigue and abdominal pain. The pain wasn’t as strong, so I figured it was just going to take a little more time. The fatigue remained.

Today, I had no appetite for our Christmas breakfast feast of Mickey Mouse waffles, eggs, bacon, and hash browns. The same held true as lunch approached.

In the place of hunger were violent dry heaves.

I told my wife something wasn’t right and we should go to the hospital. I should note, in fairness to my beautiful bride, that she has been wanting me to go to the hospital for a week. I finally relented.

After 8 hours in the emergency room, a chest and abdominal x-ray, ultrasound of my liver, gallbladder, and pancreas, and, finally, an abdominal CT scan, the doctor’s aren’t 100% sure what is going on as I don’t fit any textbook diagnosis for serious liver conditions, choledocholithiasis (gallbladder issues), or pancreatitis.

The ultrasound and CT scan show I have a gallstone, but it is not a concerning one.

However, the CT scan did also show my gallbladder to be enlarged and presenting thickening of the walls. I’ll have to do one more test in the morning to determine if it is the gallbladder…the remedy: remove it.

On a positive note, the issue does not appear to be cancer or gastrectomy related, as all of my other hospital visits revolved around these issues. Yeah, me!

However, it is another hospital stay. Another set-back to full recovery. A little while longer before I will be “me” again.

More to follow. Until then, reread the quote that started this blog post and strive to be a better person this Holiday Season and into the New Year!