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I am not a happy camper


Pictured are Tina with her new guide dog Rosa.
This evening was supposed to be fun. My friend Tina, who has been running the Adventure Fitness Camp Fire program for blind and visually impaired youth, is moving jobs and will be working for the school for the blind. Tonight we’d planned a special surprise party for her. I really, really, wanted to be there. I wanted to be there to celebrate all that she’s accomplished. I wanted to be there to see all the camp fire friends I hardly ever see anymore now that I’ve cut back my time volunteering. I wanted to see all the kids again.

We were going to surprise Tina, have some dinner at Waldo Pizza, and then go to a folk music concert. I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks.

But it just wasn’t meant to be. I started the day by completely sleeping through church. I had intended to go because I felt pretty well rested (having missed work on Friday.) I even washed my hair the night before and had all my clothes laid out ready to go. I vaguely remember the alarm going off, I think. Usually if I hit the snooze button it goes off again in 10 minutes. I guess I didn’t hit the snooze, or I slept through the next alarm. At any rate, I woke up about 11:30 am, about the time church was ending. Groan!

I then started to get ready for the day. It’s ostomy changing day – so, I did my thing. I thought all was good. An hour later it was leaking. I hadn’t even eaten anything yet for the day, and already the pouch was filling up with liquid. I changed it again, and again – I’m on bag number four and it’s held for a few hours now. Now the skin is red and irritated.

But, I cancelled going to Tina’s party.

I was afraid I’d get there only to have to get someone to leave the event to drive me home again. I was afraid that eating pizza wouldn’t go over well. Or, I’d make it to the concert only to have a disaster event there. So, I stayed home.

GROAN!
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