The Appendectomy

I looked at the clock and it was just after 3:00 in the morning. My stomach felt like there were sharp needles stabbing me through my intestines. I got up and tried to go to the bathroom without success. The pain was annoying enough that I couldn't fall back asleep. I shifted positions several times and every time I moved, I felt the pain gravitate. At 5:00 Henry woke up crying. I'm never quite sure what happens when the twins put him to bed so got up to check that he still had a diaper on or something. You never know with them. He was fine but hungry so I gave him a bottle. My stomach was killing me but I could walk. I tried to go to the bathroom again but still couldn't. I got back in bed and sort of moaned for an hour. Finally, at around 6:00, I woke Jay up and told him that I was sick and that I needed him to take care of the kids. He asked me all sorts of questions, pushed where it hurt and told me to wait for an hour to see if the pain went away or got worse.

All three of the boys had woken up around 6:30 and Jay got up with them. By 6:45, I was crying and told Jay something was really wrong. I could no longer move without great pain. He started getting the boys ready and we brainstormed as to what to do with our kids. He called KariAnn at 7:00 and asked if we could bring Seth and Sammy over. I thought Andrea could take Henry but we couldn't get a hold of her. Everyone was ready by 7:45 but I was stuck in bed. The thought crossed my mind that an ambulance ride would be easier. I just couldn't see how I could get out of bed, walk upstairs and get in the van. I sat up and felt faint and lightheaded. Jay sprinted upstairs to get me a bowl and made it just in time. When I was done throwing up, Jay helped me up and we took all the kids to KariAnn's. We still hadn't been able to get a hold of Andrea so they took Henry too and told us they'd arrange it with them. As we drove away from KariAnn's house, I told Jay that leaving my three kids with a woman who just had a new baby three weeks ago was so unbelievably wrong. Thankfully, KariAnn is like WonderWoman and deep down, I knew she could handle it.

The drive was excruciating. The roads here are notoriously bad. Potholes and cracks everywhere. Every bump was like a punch on the side. Jay got me a wheelchair and pushed me into the ER. I only had to wait for about 10 minutes and if I held very still, the pain was manageable. When the triage nurse was getting my info, I threw up again. They took me to a room and transferred me to a stretcher. I hadn't had anything to drink since dinner the night before and I was very dehydrated. They could not find a vein to draw blood from. First the nurse tried. She managed to get an IV in but couldn't get blood. Next came some guy who looked at both of my hands and arms and kept saying how tiny my veins were. Aww....shucks. But tiny veins is no compliment. Tiny veins hurt. First he tried my arm. Nothing. Both hands...twice. Nothing. He said they have a "two times and their out" policy with poking people and called IV therapy to come. She tried for probably 30 minutes but couldn't find any blood either so ended up doing a finger stick and scraping it for 10 minutes to fill three small tubes of blood.

One of the sites where they tried to draw blood.

There was a mental patient next door that was keeping every one entertained. ERs are interesting places. She kept going on and on about getting water and food and then shouted out that she needed to call her dentist. Finally the police took her away.

They wheeled me to radiology for a CT and Jay was in his element. He hadn't told anybody yet that he worked there which surprised me. We saw another resident in the hallway and I'm sure I looked precious with my bird's nest hair, pale face and grimace. Jay knew all the techs and told them to take good care of me. They were all very nice. The CT didn't take very long and Jay told me as they were wheeling me back to ER that it was appendicitis. I was relieved.

One of the annoying things about being married to a doctor is the pressure to actually be sick when you feel like crud. I would have hated to cause such a scene only to be told that I had gas or something. So...phew with the nasty appendix.

We had to wait for the surgeon to get done with a surgery but I had morphine going on now and didn't feel quite so miserable. Everyone was so nice. The nurses and transport people. I was cold so they put warm blankets on me and tucked me in so I wasn't exposing flesh. I really felt like I was receiving good care.

The surgeon came and I immediately didn't like him. He had a horrible bedside manner. He just had this smug, bored look and when he asked me to describe my pain, I felt like I was auditioning for surgery. I told him how it started but that now, it was very localized to my right side and he commented that "that's straight from a textbook".

Jay came with me to pre-op and I had to run through the whole rigmarole again. All of the questions...history.....etc. I bet I had to say my weight in front of Jay about 20 times. The first time was embarrassing enough but didn't they write it down anywhere?

I gave consent to everyone, the nurses, the anesthesiologist, and finally the surgeon (who came about 45 minutes later). They wheeled me into the OR and I saw all of the lights and the room. The doctor put a mask on my face and told me it was oxygen and that's it. Lights out.

I vaguely remember waking up and scratching my nose only to have my hands batted away. I think I was indecent too. I remember my back and shoulder being exposed and wanting to be covered but I couldn't talk.

The next thing I remember is being in my room and having to go to the bathroom. It took me probably 10 minutes to work up the courage to get out of bed and as I walked, I saw another bed! I wasn't alone! I felt depressed. I did not want to share a room.

Jay came soon after with the kids and it was hard. Henry was screeching and when I held him, all he wanted to do was push the buttons on the bed. Sammy kept hitting himself in the head for reasons still unknown to me. Seth ignored me and acted bored. They did give me cute cards though. Jay was scanner sitting that night which meant he would still be in the hospital but over in a different wing with the boys. He just has to be there in case anything happens with the patients getting contrast (which I guess is a risk but it never happens) so he fed them dinner and left.

I had an IV in and a PCA (with morphine) but it made me feel like I had to pee every hour. I was miserable. I asked if they could take it out and if I could just drink water but they worried it would make me nauseated to have anything in my stomach. I only felt pain when I moved and I only moved when I had to go to the bathroom which I only had to do because I had the IV which I only needed because I had the PCA which I only used when I went to the bathroom. Oh well.

Jay brought me flowers when he came to say goodnight after scanner sitting and the gift shop delivered some flowers from Jen and Christopher. Andrea and Rebecca came to see me and brought me flowers too.

Pretty flowers from Rebecca and Andrea and Jen and Christopher

Jay got me a sturdy plant

I tried to go to bed around 10:00 but it's impossible in a hospital. The woman I was sharing a room with had had her uterus, ovaries, cervix all taken out and bladder reconstruction done. She was totally hurting and needed a lot of nurse attention. She also needed the TV to be on at all times, even when she was sleeping. All of the little worker bees never seemed to come in at the same time and it seemed there was a nurse/nursing assistant, phelbotomist/janitor in there the entire night. I know I never slept more than an hour straight. I had THE most annoying CNA in the middle of the night that I would describe but this is already too long and I could go on and on about her and her little white barrettes and her power trip.

It seemed once morning came around that I couldn't get a nurse's attention. My surgeon came and talked to me for all of three minutes. One of Jay's resident friend came to say hello. Nice...but awkward in my hospital gown and matted hair. I really wanted to be discharged by 11:00 and had to make a lot of noise for it to get done. I managed to get out of there by 11:20. Jay took Henry over to Rebecca's (who had picked Sammy up from preschool) and I crashed at home. Jay didn't get home until 3:30 (he had to go do mock boards at the hospital) and I was really hurting by then. I was surprised how much more I hurt at home than I had at the hospital.

Andrea brought dinner over and I stayed in bed until about 8:30. I got up hoping for a new Office or Grey's Anatomy but both were reruns so we watched the movie Invincible. I popped a couple of Lortabs before bed and slept until 5:00...took another one and slept until almost 10. I feel pretty good today. Sore but aware. I took my first shower in three days and feel clean and squeaky.

This was totally boring but I needed to document it. I'm so grateful for Jay for taking the time to take care of me and our kids. And, obviously, to my wonderful friends who haven't batted an eye when the burden was shifted to them. I'm amazed by all of the long-distance offerings of help. I know some really wonderful people.

Thank you all!

Flowers from my mother and father-in-law