I have no idea why, but 2012 is trying to kill me. This year has been a crazy one in terms of my health. I have never really thought of myself as someone with health issues, but maybe I’m making up for lost time. It’s really weird to say, but I’ve been sick more days this year than I’ve been healthy.

The first couple of months of the year are always a little insane for me because it’s crunch time leading up to the conference that I work on. It goes fast, and requires a lot of hours and effort. But that’s just part of the deal. However, literally the Monday after the conference I got sick. I thought it was the flu so I took it easy for the week. I felt better for a day or so, but then got worse. I went to the doc to discover I had mono. MONO. I didn’t know anyone my age ever got mono. And it incubates for four to seven weeks in the system before it shows up, so I have no idea where or how I got it. My best guess is the grocery cart or something public that I touch, but I really don’t know. So, then for the next few months I made plans and broke them, having to reschedule everything because I wasn’t getting any better. I would never have guessed how bad mono was, and feel like I should’ve been more sympathetic to those I’ve known with it in the past.

Another couple of months past. I was approaching FIVE months of mono. I still had to take naps every afternoon just to get through the day. I hadn’t worked a full day since the conference. I had a couple of relapses along the way. This mess was crazy.

Then on September 12 I went to Tampa for an overnight work event. I knew it would be tough on my physically, but didn’t anticipate being sick all night long. I had to miss the first half of the next day of my work event so I could finally catch a few hours sleep. I somehow survived the following few hours to fly back home. The next morning I went to the doctor because I thought I might have another kidney infection, but of course, had to wait for results. The weekend was BRUTAL. Not only did my kidneys ache and I felt lousy, but my right side started hurting. I had no idea what was going on. Monday came and my doctor was out, so that night I finally decided to go to the ER (my first time). I even had to Google a hospital because I had no idea where one was located near me.

Well, it turned out that I was right about the kidney infection, but they had some surprising news for me–gallstones and an inflamed gallbladder. I didn’t really know what that meant. I think I was kind of in shock, actually, because I’d never had more than my wisdom teeth removed. The ER doc said that it meant that my gallbladder had to come out. I asked if I was supposed to make an appointment, and he told me that I was to be immediately moved upstairs into the main hospital and scheduled for surgery. WHAT. Now I can assure you I was in shock. I spent the next three days in the hospital pre and post surgery. I can assure you that I’d like to repeat that experience.

I got home last Thursday, and it’s been a long week of recovery. At first it kind of felt like the scene from Aliens where the innards become outards, and something pops out of the chest. But now it’s more of a soreness. It still mostly just feels weird that I was the one who actually had the surgery. And then, of course, there’s the kidney infection which has been glad to fill it’s role. But that, too, has been put in its place.

So, yeah, it’s been a weird year. My doctor even suggested that I get the flu shot in a few weeks. I didn’t understand why until she told me that I’d better prevent anything I can with the roll I’ve been on the last few months. I’m not only ready to finally be better, but ready for this year to be over. And fingers crossed, it won’t get any worse.

2012, I apologize. Let’s be friends.

(Come on, 2013.)