Bye-Bye Appendix!

It's been almost two weeks since I had my appendix taken out! Yeah! What an experience. It is sort of a blur to me, since I wasn't feeling well and things seemed to happen at a decent pace.

I woke up on Wednesday morning with some abdominal pain. I didn't think anything of it--maybe I ate something that didn't agree with me, or I was ovulating, etc. The pain got steadily worse throughout the day, and I began to feel a little wiped out. I went to take a nap in the afternoon, but the pain prevented any sleep. After getting out of bed, the nausea set in. Joe took me to the hospital shortly after that.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30pm, and we were advised of an approximate wait time of 2 hours. At 9:30pm, we were called to come back to the emergency room. The nurse came in, labs were drawn, an IV was started, and Zofran (an anti-nausea medicine) was given along with some morphine. I felt much better and was able to dose off for a bit. The doctor came to see us, and the exam was classic for appendicitis. Yippy. At least we knew what it was. My white blood cell count was elevated, and a CT scan was ordered. After ingesting a large amount of contrast, the CT was done, and it showed acute appendicitis.

The surgeon was called promptly--it was after 2 am by this time. Dr. Batly came to see me at 3 am. Surgery was advised, but after learning who was on call for anesthesia, we decided to wait until morning to have my surgery. Dr. Batly had a full day in the operating room and was more than happy to bump one of his first cases to make room for me (plus, then he could go back home and get a few more hours of sleep).

I admitted to the hospital and taken upstairs for a brief stay. My surgery started at around 9am, and I was returned to my room afterwards. When I got back upstairs, Joe, Julie (his sister), and Patti (his mother) were all waiting for me! It was nice to go to a hospital so close to home, and where I used to work so I knew most of the nurses and doctors. Everyone was so nice to me.

I was discharged Friday afternoon, and so far, I haven't had any complications. I am not allowed to lift more than 5 pounds, and Joe is making sure that I follow this rule. I get to go back to work on Friday. I'm really looking forward to it. I was bored to tears, and I wasn't able to do anything since I was recovering from surgery. There are times when I said, "I could have gone back to work," but then I move or twist in an unusual way, and a small twinge of pain reminds me that I'm not completely better yet.

Thanks to everyone who wished me well! You're thoughts, visits, and gifts were very uplifting! And, congratulations to my brother, Dan, on his promotion to Captain!