O Appendix, Why Hath Thou Forsaken Me?

Well, I've had an exciting weekend.

At work on thursday, my stomach started hurting-- enough where I didn't want to work the whole day. So, Justin said I could go home early and I stopped by the grocery store and got a bunch of stomach meds and some ice-cream.

I proceeded to take take all of the stomach meds and indulge in some ice-cream. But no matter how much pepto I chugged I didn't feel any better. In fact my stomach kept feeling worse. So when Charles got home he got me some even stronger meds but even those didn't help, and by this point I was spending some quality time in the bathroom.

I was hoping it would pass by the next day, but I could sleep more then 30 minutes before waking up in intense pain. I spent much of the night crying, and Charles agreed to take me to the hospital first thing in the morning. So at 6 am he crawled out of bed and we drove to the nearest hospital. Once there they admitted me to the ER. I was pretty impressed how seriously they handled me, even thought I pretty much walked in because my tummy hurts!

After asking me a few question and poking my belly, the doctor was pretty sure I had appendicitis. So, they hooked me up to an IV, gave me pain killers, did a CAT scan, and then an ultrasound. After that they were very sure it was my appendix, and transferred me to the acute care wing of the hospital and lined up surgery for later that afternoon. Charles stayed by my side and called all parents, and even told Justin I couldn't come into work.

I spent 2 days in the hospital after that. The first night was really hard. The nurses woke us up all the time to take our blood pressure and ask how our pain was. It would feel better it I could sleep through it... Apparently the pain meds they gave sometimes lower blood pressure, and the nurses were worried that my blood pressure was getting too low. They told me all this when I was asking for more pain meds, so I told them my blood pressure is normally on the low side. The nurse came back after consulting my chart, her bp was 103 when she was admitted into the ER, so the meds aren't affecting her bp. We can give her more morphine. woohoo!

I had trouble when they moved me from IV pain killers to pills. I hadn't eaten anything in two days and the pills were suppose to be taken with food, so the nurse gave me a few crackers to choke down and some pills. So, the rest of the day I chocked them back up. I had no appetite, and the hospital food was all really heavy or greasy, like steak and potatoes and sausage and bacon. I really wanted to eat enough to be able to take pain pills, but there was no way I could keep their food down. The next nurse said that they always had jello and pudding in the kitchen, and brought me some. The next day they gave me less intense pills that I was able to keep down and was able to leave.

Charles was so wonderful throughout the whole thing. He was constantly by my side-- and did everything he could to help. He did his best to keep our families informed throughout. He even made sure the kitty was well fed and happy when he was away at the hospital. I hope I told him enough times how much I appreciate him and how lucky I am.

I was amazed at how quickly modesty goes out the window when at the hospital. I seemed every nurse had a reason to poke and look at my girly bits. After the surgery there were about 7 sticky little heart monitors all over my torso, and one on my boob. How'd that get there? Honestly it was a little over the top, I only have one heart, I don't need that many monitors. Plus the gowns were very good at flapping open and showing my butt.

So, of course I took Monday off work, and took tuesday as well. I think I should be good to go to work tomorrow. Justin said I needed a doctors note to take off that many consecutive sick days. I had surgery!! I think a doctors note is a little silly at this point.

So, now I don't have near as much pain, and I've got most of my mobility back. I'm still very swollen (I gained 10 lbs while in the hospital!) and don't have much energy or an appetite. I just won't push myself tomorrow.

I joked with my parents that Charles was probably relieved it was something serious after being dragged out of the apartment so early in the morning. He later said that he actually had hoped that it was nothing-- he hated to see me go through all of that. He's so wonderful.