why oh why – marginalia and such

A few weeks ago, one of my dissertation students (I edit dissertations) told me about the difficulties that made her push her dissertation to the side and deal with life for a year before finalizing her graduation. At the time, I commiserated. I was going through a rough patch myself, so she shared some Mongolian wisdom with me (she’s from Mongolia, if my seeming non sequitur threw you off). She said, “In Mongolia, we say that bad things happen to clear the way for good things to come.” Or something along those lines. My mental quoting is not as accurate as I would like it to be. I am waiting for my good things to come. March was a mess of a month and the first week of April has gone downhill at an alarming rate. My stress levels are insanely high at the moment and it’s all I can do to stop myself from crashing on my bed and refusing to get up for a week.

The time has come to give in and see a surgeon about my options for gallstone treatment. Given my family history–not one of my immediate family members has a gallbladder–it’s more than likely I’m looking at surgery in the relatively near future. After dealing with (tmi alert) insane bouts of gas , pressure, sudden little jabs beneath my ribs, and discomfort, I have to admit it’s not indigestion or that I’ve been working out too much. This is definitely more than overindulgence or muscle aches (though I’m sure recent overindulgence exacerbated my latest attack). Now, I will whine and moan and wish I won’t have to go through with surgery, but I will likely have to regardless of all my raging against the situation. Worst part is this was probably brought on by weight-loss (yeah, apparently it’s a trigger for gallstones) and genetics–no help for it.