For several days now, my wife has been complaining of lower abdominal pain, along with periods of constipation and gas buildup. Yesterday, the pain finally got too much for her, and she drove herself to the hospital while I was at work, advising me that I should get home in order to get our sons when school was out.

Later yesterday afternoon, our local hospital (Potomac Valley Hospital, in Keyser, WV) transferred her to Winchester Medical Center (Winchester, VA), where she had three hours of emergency surgery during this morning’s wee hours.

At that time, it was determined that Jeanette had a severe case of diverticulitis, and the subsequent surgery had removed a portion of her colon, which had been perforated by the condition. The doctor cleaned out the infection and also removed her appendix during the operation. At this time, she remains in stable condition at Winchester Medical, with a temporary colostomy while the remaining colon can heal and the infection determined to be completely gone.

Obviously, our lives have taken a dramatic and sudden turn. I’m not sure when I will return to work, targeting Tuesday, though it’s unclear how much care I will have to provide for my wife when she finally returns to us. Christmahanukwanzaa has been, umm, disrupted, as it appears, since our normal routine of travel and hosting of family will be limited by her mobility, ability, and condition.

Adding another layer to the salad is today’s very intriguing winter storm, which is dropping snow now (about two inches, two more coming) followed by a period of icing, followed by a period of more snow. How this will affect our visiting her, the boys’ school schedules, and the like, remains to be seen.

As I told my boss this morning, I am now, as the golfers say, ‘in the tall grass.’ My wife has been running this household since there was a household, some 13 years now, and to suddenly have those responsibilities, not even sure at present what 100% of them are, is a bit overwhelming for this already stressed Mr. Mom. Time will tell, and it’s certainly not going to be as bad as it seems, nor is it as bad as it could be, but I feel totally lost right now.