Have you ever woken up from a dream and wished you could go back to sleep? While I was asleep I was comfortable and pain-free. Waking up, on the other hand, was jarring and painful, the kind of pain that could not be ignored. I gradually gleaned a synopsis of my condition, though I'm sure it had to be explained to me many times. An artery connecting to my right ovary had ruptured causing extensive internal bleeding. During surgery number one they opened me up horizontally, hip to hip, and removed the ovary in an attempt to stop the bleeding. After another CT scan, they quickly realized that the problem had not been solved, which was when I was life-flighted to the University of Utah hospital. Here, they performed surgery number two and opened me up vertically, sternum to pelvis. They removed all my organs (hence my dad's wise-crack about 'letting it all hang out') filled my abdominal cavity with saline and began pulling out blood clots (one nurse said some were so big...
If you can smile when things go wrong And say it doesn't matter, If you can laugh off cares and woe And trouble makes you fatter, If you can keep a cheerful face When all around are blue, Then have your head examined, bud, There's something wrong with you. For one thing I've arrived at: There are no ands and buts, A guy that's grinning all the time Must be completely nuts. ["Smile, Darn You, Smile," as quoted by Jeffrey R Holland, "The Will of the Father," Jan,17, 1989.]