WARNING: THIS POST IS NOT FOR THE FAINT AT HEART

Hi everybody. Sorry I've been away for so long. You know how they say bad things come in threes? Okay, well, I hope these were my three, because they're going to keep me going for a looooooong time. I have been trying to keep things upbeat on my blog, but I find that I have a need to write about these things before I can move on. (Vinny, honey, I haven't forgotten about my questions. I promise to get them done as soon as I've worked my way through this.) Please don't feel like you need to read the rest just because you got this far. I'm not a very happy camper right now, and I'm not going to try to hide it. My apologies to anyone who is looking to be entertained, as this is plain and simple catharsis for me. Hang on tight, it might be a bumpy ride ...

A month ago, mid-April, we had a freakish snowstorm that dumped two feet of snow on our lovely city. I prefer to look at the silver lining, so let me say that the resulting snow day was a lovely gift. About 10 am, my 4-year old son and I went outside to shovel out the driveway. We were happy and having a good time when it happened. My little guy was enthusiastically shovelling snow from the lawn onto the driveway (lol) when he lost his grip on his shovel and it flew out of his hands, hit me in the face and knocked out my front tooth and damaged two others. Yeah ... so we're still working on getting that fixed up. I'll keep you posted.

Two weeks ago, I stopped into my usual grocery store to pick up a few things. My ex was there. He's not a very nice man, and has a tendency to fly off the handle. Apparently, he found out I was dating, and that made him rather upset. To keep it simple, he ended up punching me in the stomach. Yes, he was dragged off by the RCMP and no, they didn't keep him long. The next day, I was at work when I experienced a sharp pain in my abdomen. I fainted. I thought it was unusually severe cramps but I was wrong. Two days after that, I was still in a lot of pain, so I went to the afterhours clinic. They rushed me into the hospital, where I was subjected to a CT scan. An hour later, I was in surgery for a hernia, caused by a tear in my stomach muscle which was the result of a blow to my stomach (wonder how that happened?). I have been off work recovering since then and it's driving me crazy.

A dear friend and confidante suggested to me that I should perhaps thank my ex for that particular experience. Reason for that is because, in the course of the CT scan, the doctor noticed something else. It seems I have a rather large "mass" on my right ovary. There is no way of knowing what the nature of that is without further examination. Unfortunately, they need to wait until I have healed from my hernia surgery before they can proceed. I have been assured that there is no doubt that surgery will be necessary, as the growth is about 10 mm in diameter. So for now, I play a waiting game. It's never far from my mind, although I am trying to look on the positive side. However inadvertently, my ex may have actually saved my life. Ironic, considering he has spent a good part of the past year plotting to do away with me. I have regular checkups and paps, but somehow this had been overlooked until the CT scan was necessary.

Until now, I have only told two people about this. I don't want anyone's sympathy, but I could use some prayers. It's been a hell of a year so far. It can only get better, right?