It's a Small World

The problem with being sick is that it is so easy to fall into this self-absorbed attitude. A part of me feels like the world is somehow orbiting around me. Perhaps it's more the result of having my world suddenly shrink so drastically. Last week I was out and about traveling from job to job and meeting with people and designing projects and so on. I was in Hood River and White Salmon and Goldendale and Klickitat. Work needed to be done so I jumped in my Jeep and went. Then it all came to a screeching halt.
My world shrunk down to my home. And not my whole home, just the downstairs (no climbing stairs). Not the whole downstairs. The sofa that became my bed and the chair that became my... well it's still just a chair. But it's my chair. It's where I've spent much of the past few days since my surgery.
My world continues to shrink because I must be served- taken care of. This is not a demand for service, but a need for service. Others take care of me. Food is delivered. Water is fetched. Others come to my aide. I am so thankful. I am so grateful. I couldn't do it alone. But it is a small world when it shrinks down to just me.
Years ago when Jennifer and I had a miscarriage we were in the hospital waiting for Jennifer's treatment. It had been a pretty traumatic event in our lives. We were absorbed in our world. A good friend came to visit us. He asked us if we were the people who were the worst off in that hospital. We knew that we were not. He helped us to get out of the little world our pain was constructing and helped us to find compassion on others that were hurting also.
I surfed Facebook for a bit today. I ran across others with notices of their painful time. Bill Stewart posted a picture of his wife, Pam who was going into surgery to put a metal plate in her hand. My friend Tara Clemens posted an article of a little girl who had a rare kidney cancer that she had beat twice. While at school she hit her head and had to go to Doernbecher Children's Hospital for treatment. Just as she was about to be released a freak accident occurred when a static spark ignited some hand sanitizer on her shirt. She is now scheduled for skin surgery this Thursday.
When I remember that there are others out there with bigger pain than mine, my world opens up a bit. I can care for another and empathize. I can pray for Pam, and this little girl, and Logan Maus, and Tommy Bozung's back, and Reese Fidler's surgery and so on.
The world is bigger than my cancer. I have a new resolve to not let my world shrink to size of me.