I feel like I'm already getting a chance to experience my "next life." Six years ago I began to have intense pain in my left leg, but the doctors insisted it was only a pulled muscle and prescribed physical therapy. My family's concern was that it may be rheumatoid arthritis or fibromyalgia, as my grandfather had both, and my aunt has fibromyalgia. After going to the dotcor 4 times over a year and a half, I finally got a nurse practitioner who actually wanted to figure out what was wrong, and took x-rays looking for arthritis or bone spurs. She didn't find those, but she did find a massive tumor that had been basically "eating" my pelvic bone. The pain I was feeling was my bones breaking. The doctors kicked in to high gear, got me seen by an orthopedic oncologist with no appointment, and a week later I went in for major surgery. After surgery the orthopedic oncologist, who performed the surgery, said that based on the bone damage, she was shocked that I'd actually been able to walk in to the hospital for my surgery under my own power. The entire left half of my pelvic bone and the bone above my hip joint were replaced with corral, which "grew" to become the same strength, density and shape of the bones that belong there. Fortunately, the orthopedic onclogist determined that while the tumor was very aggressive and destructive, it was not cancerous. Following surgery I could not walk for 6 months. A month before I relearned how to walk my husband decided he didn't want to be married anymore. While traumatic at the time, I've found that I still measure my life in terms of "before surgery" and "after surgery." Since my recovery I've lived as if I have a new chance at life, doing the things I'd wanted to do but not done... going back to school, learning to ride a motorcycle, and generally enjoying life... I cherish every moment I spend with my godson, even the times he drives me crazy asking "Why?" as only a 5 year old can... Now, if there's something I want to do in my next life I do it in this one...
