It’s amazing how soon it’s Monday again; a week since I embarked on my journey of self-discovery. So far, I’ve come up with many questions and not so many answers, but I guess it’s a start.

My hysterectomy has been postponed for a week, since the ICU at our local hospital is full. So I’m keeping my womb for another week. Strange how that can now seem a burden, when I fought for six years to keep it after the benign tumour was discovered! Weird. I guess it’s all about one’s mindset.

According to thefreedictionary.com, a mindset is a ‘fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s responses to and interpretation of situations, an inclination or a habit’. I guess it’s a woman’s inclination or habit to try and retain all her female bits, as I did until some weeks ago when I made peace with the fact that I’m losing some of mine. So my mindset changed; now it was about doing the inevitable and starting the next phase of my life. Sounds wildly adventurous…

And then it was postponed because the ICU is full. Does this mean that the universe is trying to tell me something by delaying the procedure? Am I not meant to have it? Am I supposed to consider another remedy? Was this interruption necessary for me to re-evaluate my situation? You know, when you cannot solve a math problem, you get up and fetch a cookie and when you return the answer jumps out at you from the page?

I believe our tendency of always trying the familiar way of dealing with a situation instead of approaching it with a fresh eye, is known as the Einstellung Effect. Simply, it means that after repetitive programming, one tends to use a stereotyped method of problem solving, without considering an ‘out-of-the-box’ approach – which may even result in a better solution!

So instead of following the norm and having a hysterectomy, am I supposed to consider another way to dispose of this foreign body growing in me? Will hypnosis help? Or some magical mystical potion? Faith healing? Meditation? The law of attraction? Perhaps I can attract a healthy womb and it will come to me. Perhaps not. I reread ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne this weekend and the chapter dealing with ‘The Secret to Health’ intimates that illness is the manifestation of negative thoughts. That’s hard to believe, as I’m the eternal optimist and I can assure you I’ve never had negative thoughts towards my womb…

In the meantime, my son Marc found a job in a little village inn in Slaidburn, Lancashire. He started working last Wednesday and has met some other youngsters working in the village. He seems happy, so what am I complaining about?

Next Monday I’ll be dozing right now, after the anaesthetic, but I will let you know how it feels to be womb-less as soon as I can.