Okie doke--the most current news first: my appendectomy went smoothly, and I was released from the hospital around 6pm today. Patrick postponed his return flight to California until next Saturday, and he's doing a good job of taking care of me so far. He's so great :)
Now all the gory details, if you're interested (but they're more to help me remember the story that goes along with my new scar!)...So first of all, I didn't feel so hot all day Saturday, but I figured that could just be due to normal intestinal stuff, so I tried not to worry about it. Of course, then I looked at some websites about the symptoms of appendicitis, and I almost immediately developed three more of the symptoms listed on those webpages, including the dreaded pain in the lower right abdomen, which is the main indicator of appendicitis. I hoped I was just very suggestible.
So I spent most of the night tossing and turning and worrying about having appendicitis, but the pain wasn't bad enough to rush to the hospital. Anyway, I figured that since I wasn't in much pain, we'd try to enjoy part of our Sunday. So we went and saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, as planned, and it made me cry a lot. I liked it, but I think I was also crying because of all my worrying about going to the hospital and being sick. But anyway, a very good movie, just like everybody else has said.
After the movie, we were hungry (yes, it was weird--I was a normal amount of hungry despite being in moderate pain), so we walked over to Parish Cafe (a little slower than usual) where Patrick had the Zuni Roll, and I had about half of a Flour BLT, minus the B. It seemed like the most benign way to satisfy my hunger without upsetting my stomach, plus it was from Flour! It was good, although it wasn't on Flour's bread, which definitely made it less good than hoped.
After that, I figured I wouldn't be able to enjoy any more outing stuff, since I'd been in mild pain for the last day and a half, and it didn't seem to be going away. Maybe I should've gone earlier in the day, but I was partially afraid of what might happen at the hospital and also didn't want to make a big deal over a hurty stomach. But Patrick helped me get over my worries and do the healthy thing. So we took the T to Mass. General Hospital and started the less enjoyable part of our day.
I'd never been to the hospital as a patient (only as a visitor), and we didn't know if my condition qualified as an emergency, so we blundered around for awhile before getting me registered and going over to the Walk-In department. They did some easy tests and ruled out a UTI (urine tests are so fast nowadays!), but they were closing soon, so they sent me over to the always-open emergency room for more tests.
I checked into the emergency room around 4pm, and they saw me pretty quickly. First, a nice lady talked to me (the employees were all very comforting and pleasant; I was impressed) so she could figure out what kinds of tests to do on me. My complaints were pretty typical of appendicitis (although I wasn't showing all of the symptoms), so they set me up on a gurney out in the hallway of the patient area.
First, a very nice nurse tried to draw blood from me, but she failed four times on my left arm (which is super bruised today, but I'm not upset). Then a surgeon came over and stuck an IV in my right arm in one try and got blood out of that. Phew! She also started pumping some fluids into me so I could give yet another urine sample so they could rule out pregnancy (that came back negative, unsurprisingly).
I managed to get unhooked from the fluids and go retreive Patrick from the waiting room, so he hung out with me on the gurney until around 9pm (the wait kind of sucked, but there were other people with bigger problems than me, and I certainly didn't begrudge them their priority in line).
Finally, a room in the emergency department opened up, so another nice nurse got me (and Patrick) situated in there. This time, my gurney had not only a mattress, but a pillow and a sheet (and it only got better from there!). There was also a TV, so we spent our downtime between exams and test results watching the news and stuff, which made me feel better (actually, once I got to the hospital, I was surprisingly calm and cheerful about the whole thing; the only time I got even a little worried was right before surgery this morning).
A nice doctor and resident came in and told me my blood tests came back normal, except I had elevated white blood cell levels, which is indicative of an infection. So they did a pelvic exam (oh boy, bonus pap smear!), which didn't turn up anything abnormal (there was a worry that it could be an ovarian cyst, but luckily this exam ruled that out). And then they did their normal appendicitis test, a CAT scan (my first one!).
This page describes the procedure pretty well. I was a little apprehensive when the nurse told me in a whisper that it would involve putting liquid in my "bottom" (very discrete, indeed), but that part turned out to be painless, though a little weird. The worst part was having to drink this mixture of radioactive stuff (maybe iodine?) and water that tasted like nasty cream soda. But I got a bendy straw with it, and I only had to drink one big cup of it instead of the three they originally put out for me.
And they weren't done filling me up with radioactive liquids, no sir! I also got an injection of some sort of dye in my IV which (as the friendly technician warned me in advance) made me feel warm all over and made my mouth taste funny and made it feel like I was peeing when I really wasn't (that's the one that I appreciated being warned of in advance :)
So after my insides were highlighted in fine relief, I got sent through the futuristic donut-shaped CAT scanner for about 10 minutes total. It was pretty comfy, and it had these cute little lit-up icons to tell me when to breathe normally and when to hold my breath.
All in all, the CAT scan is not something I'd choose to do for fun, but it was much less unpleasant than I was anticipating. I think one of the big things that made it okay was the friendly technician. She made it less scary. Good deal...
So then I was returned to my room where Patrick awaited, and we waited for what seemed like forever to get the results of my CAT scan. My favorite doctor of the whole adventure came in a little after midnight and delivered the bad news to me: I had appendicitis! I wasn't too sad (although I did cry later on, so maybe I just suppressed my feelings at the time), I was just relieved to know what was wrong with me and to be able to make it right.
I had been allowed to eat ice chips up until then (but no other food or drink since my admission to the emergency room), but my ice chip supply was cut off since I was going to be having surgery a few hours later. Luckily, they still kept pumping fluids into my IV, so I stayed hydrated, but just had a dry mouth.
At this point, Patrick stated right out that he'd stay with me until I was all better (which is the part of the evening that made me cry, because how sweet is that?!). We also made a list of things he should do back at my apartment while I was in surgery. And then I attempted to get some sleep, but it was restless sleep for all sorts of reasons. Patrick was stuck in an uncomfortable chair, so I don't think he slept at all. Poor guy...
Oh, and when the nice ER nurse found out about my diagnosis, she told me I should read the Madeleine stories, since in one of them she has to have her appendix taken out. But I already knew about Madeleine. It was kind of heartening that a little French girl got through her surgery just fine, and all her classmates were jealous of the scar. I mean, I know it's just a made-up story, but it made me be braver :)
Around 3:30am, I was transferred to the surgery ward and put into an even nicer bed! By this point, I had taken out my contact lenses and didn't have glasses to wear, so everything was just kind of blurry and dreamlike (which probably helped me stay calm). The night nurses in surgery were so nice and comforting, even though they all looked like huge blobs to me :)
I was sharing the room with an older woman who kept making sad noises and having to get up and use the bathroom. And she was very annoyed that the nurses kept leaving the door open a crack. I was just happy they'd given me such a nice bed and weren't prodding my sore appendix too much (that thing got poked at a lot--I guess it's a necessary part of diagnosis).
Patrick wasn't allowed to come in this new room with me, so he somehow got back to my apartment (I think it was by cab, since it was 4 in the morning). I'm so lucky to have had him around through all of this; it would've sucked way more for all sorts of reason without having anybody there for me. It was good to have somebody to distract me from all the stuff that was going on.
So I slept fitfully in the new even comfier bed, and then some nice nurses came in and gave me an EKG and took my blood pressure and pulse for like the 10th time during my visit (and they also wanted a urine sample, but once they found out I'd already given two, they decided they didn't need one).
And then I climbed onto a new gurney (at this point I was still feeling just as mobile and hungry as I had during the day on Sunday, with only occasional sharp pains, but hey, my appendix was infected, so it was going to have to come out!) and was wheeled to the room where my surgery was going to be done. All sorts of nice people came and talked to me and asked how I was doing and poked at me a little (but more gingerly, now that it was established that there was actually something inside of me that could rupture).
The anesthesiologist gave me something to relax me, and then he put a mask on me, and the next thing I knew, I was in a recovery room and not feeling so hot. But no more appendix! The surgery began around 7am, and I think it took about an hour, based on what people told me.
The anesthesia had some unpleasant effects. It made my mouth really dry and made me kind of pukey (but there was nothing to throw up, which was good, I guess). And they had put a breathing tube in for the surgery (but removed it before I woke up; so I only knew this from secondhand information), which made my throat really raw and sore (I have almost no voice right now). But there was a local anesthetic around the incision in my abdomen (which, if you're curious, was not done by laparoscopy but by open surgery, if I understood the doctors right), so at least that didn't hurt much. Oh, and I also have some abrasions on my face and wrists, from the anesthetic approach, I assume. None of them are too bad, and they should heal pretty quickly.
I was all groggy from the anesthetic for awhile and kept falling asleep, but they managed to get me back into my bed in the surgery wing (those nurses must be way strong from pushing around gurneys and moving patients around!). And then Patrick came by a little later (he wasn't supposed to be there until 1pm, but he called ahead of time and they let him in earlier). The TV in the surgery wing cost money, so we just sat around being bored. A little later, Patrick got me some magazines to look at, and I worked my way up from ice chips to ice water to apple juice (which tasted like the best thing ever after not eating for 24 hours)! I was supposed to get an assortment of clear liquids for lunch, which sounded pretty tasty (like a hospital tasting menu!), but it never showed up. Oh well...
I got a new neighbor somewhere along the line. She was in lots of pain and pretty out of it; she said she'd just had a hernia operation. She kept thanking god that she was alive and that her husband was there. And she kept talking about how their 40th wedding anniversary was in a few days and how lucky she was to be with him. I liked that part :) But it wasn't nice hearing her in so much pain, especially when I was feeling fine and refusing pain meds and chugging apple juice. I hope it didn't make her feel worse to have such a peppy roommate.
So around 4pm, I felt well enough to stroll around the halls with Patrick for a little bit, pulling my IV stand around with me. They gave me a robe to wear so my butt wasn't hanging out :) Oh, and at no point in time did I have to use a bedpan, for which I was thankful. I'm sure I would've dealt with it if I'd had to, but I was glad I could preserve some dignity and walk to the bathroom on my own instead.
And apparently I passed the walking around the halls test, because a little later my surgeon came by and told me I could leave if I felt up to it. I figured I'd get more rest in my own room, so we checked out around 6pm. We took a cab home--fancy!
And now I'm home! Patrick went out and bought all sorts of soft foods for me to eat. I'm in more pain than I was initially, but it's not too bad (they prescribed Percoset to me, but I won't fill that prescription unless it gets worse). The plan is to lounge around my apartment for the next week, getting better, and assuming there aren't complications, I should be back to normal next week, with a cool scar to boot :) I'm trying not to let this loss of a week stress me out, and so far I'm succeeding in that. Patrick's presence will make it fun instead of lonely and boring. I feel bad that he's going to be missing classes and meetings that are really important to him getting a masters, but he refuses to leave me, and I want him here, so that's that! And I think he can make up the time he'll be missing.
So...updates may be sporadic, but there's no need to worry about me. Oh, and thank you to everybody who sent me get well wishes in whatever form. It was a very nice thing to come home to :)
And so ends (I hope) my exciting (and kind of scary) appendicitis adventure! Cross your fingers that I don't get any post-surgery infections!
