My current view this evening.
Today has not gone at all how I had planned. I had planned a regular day at school, but my body had a different idea.
Starting last night around 7:00, I started having a headache and jaw pain. The jaw pain is nothing surprising, as I have TMJ and a very bad habit of clenching my jaw and grinding my teeth most nights. I carry most of my tension in my jaw. Hubs and I decided to turn in early last night, so around 8:00 we got in bed. I mentioned to him that my stomach was starting to hurt, but it wasn’t anything too bad. Around 9:00 I woke up in bed because of the pain. I managed to get comfortable enough, but woke up again around 11:00. I went out to the couch and planned to sleep out there.
The only problem was that I could not get comfortable at all. The pain was pretty high in my abdomen at this point and was very sharp, shooting pains. It reminded me of menstrual cramps, but not in the right place (or at the right time of the month). I managed to drift off to sleep for about 20 minutes at a time, but I did get to see each hour of the night. I thought maybe it was digestive problems or I was hungry. I frequented the bathroom with no relief. I ate a few celery sticks around midnight and drank some water. I started to get nauseous, but figured it was just from not having anything to eat since dinner.
By the time my alarm went off this morning at 5:30, I had managed about 2 solid hours of sleep and about 2 hours of miscellaneous drifting naps. I thought I would be fine to go to work, but at about 5:45, I decided it just wasn’t an option. I was in such severe pain. By this time, the pain had migrated and was very focused in the lower right quadrant of my abdomen. Hubs encouraged me to go to the doctor, although I figured I would just rest at home while my mom had Miss C.
I finally succumbed to Hubs’ encouragement and decided I would try to make an appointment at a close-by family practice. They opened at 7:30, so I should have been fine. My mom was going to be at our house around 6:45, and between 6:00 and 6:45 the pain had become so much worse. I managed to crawl around and get things ready before my mom got there (dogs fed, Miss C awake and fed, diaper bag packed, dogs gated in the bedroom). Once my mom arrived I told her that we just needed to go to the ER. Hubs had mentioned it might be my appendix, so I didn’t want to take the chance.
Mom got Miss C’s diaper changed, loaded in the car, and we were off. We made the 25-30 minute trip to the hospital (one of the downfalls to living in a rural town). Because I was having abdominal pain, I was immediately taken back to a room. I was hooked up to an IV, had some blood drawn, given some pain meds and anti-nausea meds, and made to pee in a cup. They sent everything down to the lab, and after about an hour I had to have a cat scan. The cat scan SUCKED! The contrast that they had to administer through my IV made my arm burn so much. I actually thought someone was trying to rip out my IV it hurt so bad. I had to go through this pain 3 times.
After the cat scan, the surgeon came in and spoke with me. He hadn’t seen my labs, but was pretty sure it was appendicitis. He would barely touch my abdomen, and I about jumped out of the bed it hurt so bad. Finally the labs came back around 10:00 and everyone’s suspicions were correct: acute appendicitis. This meant surgery this afternoon. The surgery was going to happen around noon. That was 2 hours away, so I sent Hubs home to get some necessities. He also went to let the dogs out, give Bandit his meds, etc.
Right around noon, they took me up to a real room. Then almost immediately it was time for me to go into surgery. Hubs made it back just in time to head down the hall with me and down to prep. (At this point my sister was also at the hospital with us.) Once I was in the prep area, they let Hubs and my sister come back to see me. We were in that little area for about 20 minutes before I was taken back. I remember going in the room, getting on the operating table, and that was it. I was out! The next thing I knew, I was waking up in recovery. In all honesty, I just wanted to keep sleeping. I was so tired from getting absolutely no sleep last night, that it was nice to just lie there and drift in and out of sleep.
I eventually woke up enough to be taken back to my room. My parents brought Miss C to see me, and then my sister took Miss C to her house to hang out with the crazy cousins. My parents eventually left so I could try to take a nap. I got a short nap in, and then Hubs broke some news to me… On the way to the hospital after going back to our house, he had been in a wreck. It was not a big wreck, but there was a bit of damage to his car. He and the other person exchanged information, and he was back on his way to the hospital. The wreck was not his fault at all. He was driving in the left lane, and a person in the right lane basically cut him off and then tried to make a U-turn in the median. This was on a highway with a 70 mph speed limit. Hubs hit the brakes the whole time, but wasn’t able to stop. The other person’s car had a bit of a scratch on the back bumper, and Hubs’ car had a bit of damage on the front bumper. Nothing major at all.
So after giving me that news, and me being so thankful that he was ok, we just hung out in the hospital for a bit. Eventually my parents came back and my sister brought Miss C to see me. The staff brought my dinner at about 5:15, so I “ate” that. When I say “ate,” I didn’t really eat anything. I am on a liquid diet, so I had some broth, jell-o, icee, and apple juice. I am hoping that I will be on a normal diet tomorrow.
All the family left around 5:30 so they could all eat their dinner and be on their way. Now it is just me, my roommate, and my computer. My roommate has her husband here, and I hope that he won’t stay too late, as I am exhausted! I really hope to get a decent sleep tonight.
I will be discharged tomorrow, although I don’t know when. I am definitely ready to be home, as this is not at all what I thought my Wednesday would be like.
Let’s just say that after today, I am very thankful for our emergency fund. I am not overly worried about the hospital bill or the car repairs. We will be just fine!
Confessions of a Resolutionist 