My birthday was Monday, July 28th. I am 38 years old…and falling apart. Allow me to elaborate.
Most birthday celebrations (at least when you get older) tend to get spread out over the weekend, or in my case, over the week.
So I was supposed to go out to dinner with my wife, son and mother-in-law (amd her new friend) on Monday. However, the weeekend before, I caught some sort of chest cold and didn’t really feel up to it. We postponed until Thursday. My aunt and brother were to take me out on Tuesday; however, there was some biker thing (Chrome Divas- a riders group that raises money for charity) that she had planned and could we do it Wednesday? Sure, no problem.
I went to work Tuesday and was a little weak by the end of the day, but it’s to be expected right?
Wednesday, we go out to dinner to a new restaurant and I decide to try Thai food. I had the Larb. Not a typo. It sounded ok, plus it’s just a fun word to say. “Why yes, I ‘ll have the LARB.”
There was a range of spiciness that you could have it in and I chose medium. Now, I like spicy food, but apparently MY definition of medium and their’s is just a wee bit off. It was good and I took some home for lunch the next day.
About 10:30 pm the stomache cramps started, in the middle of my abdomen. By midnight, I was on the tiolet, thinking that Thai food didn’t agree with me. By 1am, I threw up, hoping to feel better. (I HATE throwing up, but I was miserable. I wound up praying to the porcelain god about three more times and at 6:30 woke my wife up to go to work. I told her “I think I need to go to the hospital.”
I had had maybe a half hour of sleep for the entire night, due to the stomache cramps. I never could find a comfortably position. She said that we would spend forever in ER and to wait until 8am and call the regular doctor. I got maybe another hour of sleep, just due to sheer exhaustion.
8am rolls around and she calls and has it on speakerphone (Thank GOD). The nurse asks if there was any blood in the vomit and my wife said “no” and I said” yes about 2:30″. The nurse immediately replies “Go to the emergency room NOW”.
We get in the car and head over to the smaller hospital ( a better choice, since I would probably STILL be waiting to be seen) and walk right in. The first question is a bit unnerving. “Do you have a living will?”
EXCUSE ME?? Just how serious is this? Do you know something that I don’t?? (Apparently it’s a standard question. It just shouldn’t be the FIRST question.) We are doing paperwork in 10 minutes, getting medication for nausea and pain in 30 minutes and seen by the doctor within an hour. I love this place.
He asks where the pain is and I show him. He presses on the left side saying “does this hurt?” “No” He presses on the right side, same question and I damn near came out of the bed in pain. He orders a CAT scan to check the appendix.
Meanwhile, the nurses are doing an EKG ( which I’ve had before) and drawing blood and a variety of other tests and things. The pain meds are working pretty well. The CAT scan…that’s new to me. Apparently, it involves filling your large colon with a dye to look at your appendix…uhoh, bad news, we have to CLEAN the area first. Hello ENEMA. That’s a surprise. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice to say that they push a very large bag of water up your butt to clean things out. Consequently, a large bag of water comes out, when you’re done. Fun times!!
CAT scan results confirm what the doc suspected. My appendix hates me. It got inflamed and has to be removed…today. If it bursts, which could happen at any time, then things get a WHOLE lot worse. Like death. He pages the surgeon; I’ll be in OR in a couple of hours.
Turns out, they’re really busy in OR, but we’ll take you to a room while you wait. Private room, all of them. Did I mention that I like this hospital? Surgery takes place about 7:30 pm and they’re done in a hour. Another hour in recovery, then back to the room. What they didn’t tell me is that they put a cathetor in. Luckily, they removed it while I was still unconscious. Good thing. I don’t really care for those. As it is, it burns when you pee for about the first day after they remove the cathetor.
Now, I’ve never had surgery in my life (that I can remember). This is some scary stuff. There are all sorts of complications that can occur. You could not wake up. There could be an infection. Any number of scary things. Guess that’s why they ask about a living will…Luckily, my wife and I have talked about what I want. Nothing formal in place (although I DO need to get a will revised.)
Family is there when I recover, which is good. I get out of the hospital the next day (Friday), after the surgeon clears me. While I liked the hospital, I was a little tired of the vital signs being measured every hour, and the constant taking of blood, and the restrictions of the IV. I was ready to go home.
Saturday morning. We should have been in Cedar Key yesterday, not home like this. I guess it’s a good thing that it didn’t happen a bit later; we would’ve wound up in Shands instead (NOT a good hospital). I haven’t had a shower since Wednesday morning. I reek …a lot. The good news is that I can take a shower today and remove the bandages and see the puncture wounds. The bad news is that I am in pain. All over. The abdomen still hurts, but so does my legs and shoulders. Weird!! I’ll take another pain pill and have some solid food and take a shower, now that someone is up that can help me.
Some Birthday Week…..