False alarm

If any of you happen to have read this post before I completely rewrote it, I thought that the umbilical hernia that I'd gotten from gaining too much weight during pregnancy had become obstructed or strangulated, at least partially from the extra stress I've been putting on the muscles in my mid-section by hopping around the apartment on a cane or two. But my gastroenterologist thinks it's nothing but good old-fashioned constipation. And here I thought I might need emergency surgery. Whew, that's a relief!

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled program.