I Am Frankenstein's Monster

Well the last week has been interesting. Last Tuesday, I went back to the ER because I was having pain down my right side and it made me sick to my stomach. It was pretty bad and I know I scared my kids. Poor Vi had to help me get the kids ready for school until my mom could get here from work because I was pretty much useless.

So on to my lovely Emergency Room stay...I got to stay in the waiting room for over 2 hours. In pain, and it was packed. They did bring me in to get my blood taken, but that took about 5 minutes. And only that long because I was dehydrated. I still have the bruise from that one. Fun fun.

After I got into the Emergency Room and wasn't stuck in the waiting room anymore, things went pretty quick. First I had to go have a CT scan done, just to make sure I had appendicitis. I did. Then I had a consult with the surgeon. Well, his med student came and did the consult. It worked for me. She pointed out my herniated umbilicus (I had more of an outie than an innie. The joys of having lots of kids) which I hadn't thought anything about. I figured that meant they might do something about it.

She explained that because they were trying to make sure that the snot bag that they found on Friday didn't break, I didn't get to have the laser surgery that makes just a small hole. Of course not. They were going to make the incision as small as possible, but I was still going to have a bigger hole than normal, which meant that my recovery was going to take longer. Yay me!

Then everything went insane. They had to take more blood just in case the surgeon needed some during the surgery. Then I got to sign my life away, basically saying I understand what is going on and what the risks are (like death), I got to talk with the ER doc again, the nurses had to make sure that I had everything that I needed to go up to the Operating Room. It was like a whirlwind of people coming and going out of my little curtained off area.

Then I got brought up to the OR. In my stretcher from the ER. I met the nurses that would be with me in the OR. Met the anesthesiologist, then met the surgeon. Then I got wheeled into the OR and got to try to get myself onto the table. That was different. I think they tied down my arms, but my memory starts getting fuzzy around then. I do remember the anesthesiologist saying that she was giving me something that would go straight to my head, then I laid there for a minute or so thinking that I didn't feel anything. Then the lights started moving, and I said so, I guess, at least it would make sense if I did since she then told me that that was to be expected. That's the last I remember until I was in the recovery room.

The recovery room is a bit fuzzy too, but that's not surprising. I remember asking where I was. I remember telling the nurses I was in pain and they gave me something. I remember moaning because it still hurt, and I remember one of the nurses telling me that they couldn't make all of the pain go away. I must have said something, but I don't remember. I remember hearing one of the nurses telling the nurses where I was going what all I had surgery for (appendectomy, removal of part of the cecum, and fixing my herniated umbilicus which resulted in 16 staples down the middle of my stomach, which is why I am Frankenstein's monster). Then I got wheeled to my room.

My room was in the pediatric ward. Because I really am a kid at heart. Or the hospital is pretty much full and it was the last place they could find for me. Either one. I didn't even realize that I was in Peds for about 8 hours until a kid started crying and she sounded just like Bug. It woke me up and the nurse told me that it wasn't her, but I was in Peds. On the plus side, I got to watch the movies they have there. I passed on Dora and the Wonder Pets, but I did watch Narnia. Mostly I read a book that my mom brought me.

I ended up being able to leave Thursday morning. Which is incredibly quick. And was also the day that my brother and sister in law came into town for our cousin's wedding. My mom had to take the week off work to take care of the kids, so I had a lot of help. Everyone is back to work tomorrow so I'm a little worried.

My brother actually ended up getting to my place within half an hour of me getting home. I'm pretty sure I spent most of their visit on the couch, but that's okay. They did make us a wonderful meal on Friday evening. My sister in law is from Thailand and she made us some authentic Thai food, only not as spicy as normal. I did just have abdominal surgery. I still have leftovers, mmmmmmmmmmm.

I went to my cousin's wedding on Saturday with Vi, my brother and sister in law. Well, the actual ceremony was a bit scary with the wooden pews so we didn't go to that. We went to the reception. It was beautiful and you could see how much my cousin and her new husband love each other. I had a great time with my other cousin's too. I'm a bit sore today, but it was worth it. I'm sure I will be better tomorrow, unless Booger walks up and head butts me in my staples again, or pokes me again. Toddlers are so much fun.

And now I should probably go to bed. I'm a bit tired and still recovering. I get my staples out Tuesday so I have to take it easy until at least then. But at least I have a good reason for not posting for a week ;)