What a Weekend

Wow!
I can't remember a more chaotic, scary, packed, insert 100 other crazy adjectives here, weekend!

We shall start on Thursday night.

Thursday I went to El Ranchero with a few girlfriends. We had some $1 tacos then headed to my place to watch Grey's Anatomy. I had a slight tummyache, but I just chalked it up to stomach cramps. I took some ibuprofen and felt better. All in all it was a pleasant time.

Friday Early Morning

I woke up at 2:30am Friday morning with major stomach cramps. I knew that these were out of the normal. I was still hesitant to go to the ER. I hate people who go to the ER for every little thing, that's what a primary doctor is for. I was up for about an hour and a half playing the "I'm going to the ER/ no, I'm not going to the ER" game in my head. I finally decided at 4am, that I was in enough pain to warrant an ER visit. i figured even if it was something as simple as a tummy ache, they would be able to prescribe me some mondo pain relievers and get some drugs into my system immediately. I, however, didn't want to wake anyone up in the middle of the night to drive me to the hospital. I decided to drive myself. I live about a mile from Virginia Hospital Center, so I figured I would be okay. I checked myself in and the ER was empty. I was in my own room in about 15 minutes. I couldn't really get comfortable to nap or rest. The night doctor was really nice, he came by and talked to me about Mexican food for 15 minutes (which is huge considering how valuable an ER doctor's time is. He made me seem really important. He told me I was going to be getting a CT scan so they could rule out appendicitis. I finally went to my CT scan about 7am. Before I went they made me drink 2 huge cups of cranberry juice mixed with iodine. It was disgusting. I drank it in big gulps. At this point I was still hopeful that I could make it to work by 9 or 10am. I had emailed my bosses to let them know what was going on, but I was still thinking I was overreacting and it was a tummy ache.
I came back from my CT scan about 8am. At 8:30 the doctor came in to tell me that it was indeed appendicitis. I was shocked. I really didn't think it was serious.
At that point I called people to let them know the news.
Annie came right over.
They said I would be going into emergency surgery soon, but they didn't have a time yet.
Sometime around 2pm Fernando came to see how I was doing.
Sometime around 3pm I went into a lot more pain and spiked a fever. They gave me mondo meds.
Around 4pm Fernando left to go back to work and I went to surgery.
Around 5pm, I actually made it into the surgery room. I remember trying to get a good look at my surroundings, but I was so loopy that I don't remember much.
Apparently I'm very witty when I'm drugged.
I woke up about 7pm in the recovery room.
About 8pm they wheeled me to my own private room.
Tamsin and Annie came in minutes later to greet me.
Frank and Fernando came by shortly after that.
Eileen, Bill and Lydia came by about 10pm with gifts and snacks.

Saturday Morning

The next morning I woke up at 5am, 7:30am, 11am, and 1pm. I fell asleep between all these wakings. I was extremely drugged.
Annie came back to the hospital to pick me up and take me home.

Thoughts about the entire ordeal.

1. I realize I am stubbornly independent to a fault. I have been chastised by everyone for not calling them to drive me to the hospital. I didn't want to bother anyone, but in hindsight, I really should have.
2. I am SO lucky to have made so many good friends. Annie took control of my blackberry and kept everyone updated.
3. I really want to thank everyone who brought gifts, sent well wishes, and especially to those who came to the hospital. It meant the world to me.
4. The world of social media is a lot more useful than finding out the latest gossip. Annie kept everyone updated thru gchat and twitter. Twitter was especially useful as she was able to make a single post to update everyone about my status. I really encourage people to join twitter. I know it seems silly, but being connected is part of our generation. I can't imagine people would have been anywhere near as informed about my condition without twitter. Even if Annie would have called everyone, it would have taken much longer. Thank God for technology.

As for me, I'm doing well. I'm still recovering. I can't drive while on my meds, as they make me really sleepy. I am hoping to be back to near 100% by Wednesday/Thursday. Mostly I'm uncomfortable. I am walking/sitting/standing like a pregnant lady. My belly button hurts, but I'll take that over the pain of a ruptured appendix.

Oh, finally, Annie and I now have matching belly button scars... Buy us a beer.