Mojo Mom on the mend

It's been a crazy week all over, hasn't it? My personal plans got derailed Tuesday evening when I wasn't feeling well...I went to the local ER because my stomach hurt a lot and I couldn't get comfortable. To make a long story short, I ended up getting my appendix out on Wednesday morning. Abdominal surgery was definitely not in my dayplanner this week.

I did think of a Mojo Mom principle throughout all this: at 3:00 am I had a "Who's on your speed dial?" moment, making a list of people for my husband and mother to call the next day, both to cancel appointments and to ask my friends for help. I felt lucky to have a deep pool of connections--a resource you need to develop before the crisis hits.

So I am on the mend, feeling pretty tired, and a little antsy and frustrated that I just have to rest. This wasn't the break I was hoping for, but I thank goodness for health insurance and good medical care. I wish we could be spending some of the 700 billion dollars to provide health care for every person in the country right now.

The good doctors at UNC Hospitals said that they've seen a lot of appendicitis lately. I have noticed that all the Democrats I know in Chapel Hill are really stressing out about the election--what a roller coaster, even before the economic meltdown! So I can't help but wonder if there is a mind-body-stress-appendix connection. (I couldn't find any medical confirmation of that but I still have to think all that stress can't be helpful.)

I actually started taking a Mindfulness-based stress reduction class on Tuesday, but not soon enough, I guess. But it did help me pay attention to what was going on in my body.

Take home message--take care of yourself!