Progression

First off... I’m sorry for being slightly MIA over the past three months, but in all honesty life had just caught up with me (or rather, overtaken me). Varsity got a tad on the hectic side leading up to mid-year exams, including all the assignments and tests in between. However, overall I am satisfied with my test and assignment results thus far and now I wait in anticipation for my first set of university exam results. I am happy to say that I think I have adapted well to university life, and feel ready to conquer the next 2 and a half to 3 and a half (or even four or five) years of my degree! But for now I think I’m just going to enjoy my four week-long holiday and get back into that motivated mindset that will get me through the second half of the year. Before we know it, it’ll be Christmas time again. I’m astounded at how fast this year has flow by (insert super surprised face here)!

In other news, unfortunately I found myself in an operating theatre yesterday afternoon. It was a whole new experience for me, since I have never been under anaesthetic much less been operated on before. Hold on, no need to panic! I’m absolutely fine, apart from a few sore muscles and two small cuts on my abdomen. So, I know you are curious to know why all this happened. Here’s the deal: about seven weeks ago a relatively disturbing pain started on the right side of my abdomen, sort of where you would find your appendix. I’d had the pain there before, on and off, for the past five years, so I just brushed it off and dealt with the pain. But by the following week when it hadn’t gone away like it usually did, and instead got worse, I figured something was up. After seeing my doctor and having a few scans and blood tests, it turned out to be a rather large ovarian cyst. Since the pain had been recurrent, the doctor decided it would be best to have it removed, hence the surgery. As it was not crucial that I have it removed right away, I waited until after my exams to have it done. Yes, that did mean I had to live with the pain for 6 odd weeks. But I managed!

As for yesterday, it was all new to me being the one in the hospital bed for a change, but I walked out of the day clinic with a new experience and a new strength. It had its humorous moments too- my nurses were rather entertaining, calling me their “baby” (guessing I was one of their younger patients). I also had a good laugh at their confusion- while the English-speaking nurse is trying to speak Afrikaans to me and cannot understand why her Afrikaans-speaking colleague is speaking English. It was only when she looked at my name that she realised just how English I am (cue laughter here). It was one of those “you had to be there” moments.

Looking back now I am glad it is all done and behind me, and I can just work at recovering once the pain subsides. I have so many exciting things to look forward to in the next few weeks, I’m glad I have this week to just relax and rejuvenate. Although, having only spent one day in bed so far, I’m already bored and do not know what to do with myself. What can I say? I’m a ‘doer’, I like to keep busy. So, I will keep my blog updated with the happenings of my journey over the next few weeks and after that we’ll see where life takes us.

Until then,

Keep smiling!!

<3 Nicole_Kayley