What Happens When Life Sucks And You Don't Die?

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I am pretty sure everyone's heard the saying, "life sucks and then you die". What happens when life does indeed suck but you don't die? Yesterday should have been a great day for me; I was going to pick up my new prosthetic legs and sign the last of the paperwork on the other set that I was going to wear on my Appalachian Trail hike. Proving that life sucks in so many ways, my enthusiasm was met with a rather grim looking scowl from one of the doctors. After my last appointment they did a scan of both of my stumps to get the best casting possible for the new sockets. What they didn't plan on was seeing a bone growth. I thought that I felt something to the left of my kneecap but when I moved it, the 'lump' disappeared. Knowing that I'd had plenty of scans and exams and that if there was something wrong, someone would have caught it. Now I have to have surgery to remove the growth; that means being in a wheelchair for at least two weeks (but more realistically four weeks) and postponing my Appalachian Trail hike that I was supposed to start the second week of April. I know that it is only a temporary setback but its hard to shake the feeling that I just wasted a lot of time, energy and money prepping for this and now it's not going to happen. The biggest concern is going a backslide and losing all the muscle that I built as well as packing on the weight because I won't be able to walk, do stairs, get on the treadmill etc. Yesterday was nothing but a blur; I came home and started haphazardly organizing a party. Again, at this point, with only an hours sleep (gotta love insomnia) most of the major points of the later afternoon and evening are just a blur. How do you handle setbacks? What do you do to stay motivated? Any unique ways of dealing with stress? Photo: Me