Small pain, big problems

I had been in pain since Sunday night but was choosing to ignore it. I didn't even tell anyone about it until Tuesday, assuming that it was probably nothing and would go away. I don't like to be sick, I don't like to go to doctors, and frankly, I was just too busy. By Wednesday, the pain was getting a bit worse, I was feeling a little queasy, and I decided to work from home. I was getting peer-pressured to go to the doctor and so out of guilt I made an appointment with my doctor. He ordered a bunch of tests, including a CT scan of my pelvis and abdomen, but told me as I was leaving that he didn't expect that they'd find much of anything and this would probably just go away. I laughed and told him that's what I'm always hoping for.

The problem was, as I was shocked to find out as they rushed me off to emergency surgery after my CT scan that evening, that my appendix was actually 4x its normal size. I was lucky to be walking around, they were shocked that I had been working even up to my appointment, and it could have burst at any point, causing a MUCH bigger problem.

That's really the problem with small, consistent problems. If its not enough to disable you, then you will probably ignore it to deal with the bigger and more immediate problems. Until that small, consistent pain blows up into a much bigger problem that could have been avoided with just a little attention. I'm wondering what other little problems at Tandem I've been ignoring that have "appendix-bursting" potential.

BTW, appendectomies evidently require less recovery time than childbirth--I was discharged in less than 24 hours and am back working at home. Just don't ask me to lift any heavy objects yet.

Signs you are doing something right...

Everyday I feel like I'm drowning in stuff that hasn't gotten done, or things I'm doing wrong. But I had a few conversations today, that after reflection, are probably signs I'm actually doing something right. If you recognize them, they might be signs that help you feel like you're doing something right, too.

• Clients call you asking you to do more work for them
• Old colleagues email you asking for a job
• Clients call you asking for a job
• You confuse your accountants--because you, in this one instance, actually know MORE than them about how to manage your company's finances
• You understand the rest of the conversation with your accountant
• Someone you are wooing to come work with you says yes
• Someone who already said yes asks for more input into the start up process just because they want to be part of something cool
• You take time to meet your spouse and kids for lunch because you're the boss now and can do that stuff sometimes
• You schedule lunch, or drinks, with a competitor
• You schedule lunch, or drinks, with an old friend so you can gossip about stuff that has nothing to do with work