You know those weeks where everyday seems to be like an uphill battle and no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to get to the top?
That pretty sums up how I feel about these past five days. But hey, it’s Friday, so something is going right. This past week I’ve been fighting off either a cold or experiencing more of the symptoms caused by that pesky cyst, and it’s been a bit of a struggle.
Last Friday I experienced another one of those attacks that happened on senior night. I was at a movie, doing nothing to physically exert myself, (although perhaps raising my blood pressure a bit as I was seeing Paranormal Activity 4) when I felt it coming on. Usually I have a headache around the clock, which I have become accustomed to, but this was a different feeling, a sense of dizziness, pressure, and nausea all rolled into one somehow. I successfully ignored it for most of the movie while suppressing a few bouts of coughing, but after it ended and I stood up, things didn’t work out so well. It was difficult to gain a sense of balance, I couldn’t quite make out any objects specifically, and I began to lose feeling in my hands. Scary stuff, but you know, just another Friday night. Things all died down and went back to normal in about thirty minutes.
As I regained feeling in my hands and also my ability to properly see what was in front of me, the coughing stuck around, and has yet to leave. Besides the obviously extra burden of being sick on top of being sick, if that is even possible, this situation actually has a higher level of seriousness to it.
Two weeks prior to my surgery I have to get a physical from my primary physician where she basically signs off that I am healthy and functioning normally besides the problems due to the cyst. If I’m sick at that point in time I don’t get cleared for surgery, which clearly is not something we want to happen, at all. Everything would get delayed, I would no longer have a set date, in other words it would basically destroy all our plans. So, staying as healthy as possible is imperative to me right now, and as we are entering prime flu season, also a very big challenge.
A good amount of sleep, vitamin C, and any other things I can think of to ward off any unwanted pathogens will definitely become a part of my daily routine now. As we draw closer and closer to the big day (only thirty-four days left, not that I’m counting or anything), I am aiming to be as mentally and physically strong as possible. It’s been a bit of a rough past seven months, but when I look back at myself on that very first day when it all started, and then I look at myself now, I realize just how much I’ve grown and it makes me genuinely be able to say I’m thankful for this experience. An amazing quote that one of my very good friends from club volleyball shared with me this week really hit home, it said, “Life is like a piano. The white keys represent happiness and the black represent hardship. But as you go through life’s journey, remember that the black keys also create music.” You have to learn to take the good with the bad, and appreciate everything you’re faced with. Life is a beautiful melody. Make sure you listen to every moment.
