Say Goodbye, Appendix

So the last 42 hours have been quite a whirlwind.  I had been meaning to blog about many other things, but it seems like my appendix just had to take precedent. 

It all started on Tuesday morning.  I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and felt like some one was stabbing my stomach.  I wasn't sure if it was just indigestion or what was going on.  I took some pills to help me digest what we had eaten the night before.  I tried going back to sleep with little luck.  I ended up rescheduling most of my day and tried to sleep it off.  Through out the day the pain would range from dull and twisting to sharp and would take my breath away.  I knew the pain wasn't normal, but since I wasn't throwing up I didn't think it was food poisoning.  I really hadn't eaten much on Tuesday and then when D came home I had him warm me up some chicken noodle soup.  That is the cure for all ills isn't it?  I wish. D actually took Bella for a walk after dinner, because she loves to be hyper at night.  While we was gone, the worst stabbing pain came back.  I went online to see what our local clinics after hours were and decided to venture on webmd.com.  I put in my symptoms, and since it is the stomach area, there are about 10 different things that I could have self diagnosed.  Of course appendicitis was one of the first ones.  By the time he was walking in the door, I had tears in my eyes and asked him if I should go to the doctor.  I was able get an appointment at 8:10 p.m. and we headed to the clinic right by our house. That's when the fun began. 

When it was my turn to go in, D and I went through the normal size,weight, etc.  They had me do a urine test and head back to the room.  When I got back in, D said that they were doing that to see if I was pregnant.  I was like, what?  Would having an appendix removed be better than being pregnant?  We both just laughed.  We know we are not ready for that ordeal.  Urine results were negative and no UTI. Woo! We were so graciously lucky enough to be in the room next to a person that was trying to puke her guts out - very loudly!  Good thing I do not have a weak stomach!!  Then of course the doctor came in, felt around, and asked about my symptoms.  Not a ton can be figured out just by them poking around.  He wanted me to get some blood drawn before I left, because it could tell way more than the urine test.  We actually left the clinic, and the doctor said he would call us with the results.  

I went home and of course still in pain, I decided to take 3 advil and get in the bath.  The worst part was that it stressed out my muscles and my back was killing me.  The bath helped a TON and finally let me relax.  Mid-bath, the doctor called and said that my white blood cell count was 15K when normal levels are 10K or lower.  Basically this means that I had some sort of bacteria in my body.  He said he would call in the morning, and I needed to go get a CT scan.  I found myself a comfortable spot on the couch and tried to get some sleep that night.  I actually slept pretty well and even woke up with hardly any pain.  I was thinking to myself that maybe I just jumped the gun.  Maybe it was just something I ate or indigestion.  

At 7 a.m. the doctor called me and discussed my symptoms.  Although he said since I was feeling better he felt reassured, he still wanted to do the scan.  My white blood cell count was still way high for comfort.  I ended up not being able to get the scan done until the afternoon.  I actually had to meet with a bride that came in from S. Carolina, and I couldn't reschedule.  We met, and I also met at a lunch meeting as well, although I couldn't eat because I had to abstain for 4 hours prior to the scan.  I had felt better most of the day.  I didn't have any sharp pains and the only discomfort was that my stomach muscles were sore.  Walking around though, I still felt like something was off.  

At 2:15 I got to go drink, what I call, the chalky shit from the office.  I was able to pick from 4 delicious flavors: Strawberry, Vanilla, Banana and Mocha.  I ventured for the Mocha.  Ugh, it wasn't the best thing ever, but I guess it could have been worse.  I went home for the 1 hour and a half wait and headed back around 4 p.m.  The scan only took about 8 minutes, but was a surreal experience.  I watch Grey's and Scrubs, and was asking myself how did I get here... I got to drink another cup of chalk shit and then got an IV put in.  Another new for me, one of many of the day.  Since they were checking for appendicitis, I had to wait until they sent my scans to the doctors office.  The nurse I was working with came out and let me know I did have a small case of appendicitis and that my doctor would be calling me soon, but I could leave. 

I drove home knowing that I would have to get surgery and figured it would be either this weekend or early next week.  When I got home around 4:20 p.m. D was home and the doctor called.  She basically said that I did have appendicitis and that if I didn't mind driving to central Austin, that she would call up and get the whole surgery set up that night.  Surprise!!  Yes, I didn't have an option and I had to go get it removed ASAP.  I walked into the living room with tears in my eyes and told D the news.  I was pretty much just shocked that it was so soon.  I told him I had to get myself together and we needed to head that way.  I called and shocked my mom with the news and away we went.  

Of course with Austin traffic it took us a little longer to get up there. I met the doctor in the ER and he walked us up to the room.  Basically we were not wasting any time.  We were walking up talking about the symptoms and what I had eaten or drank in the last day, and I mentioned that I really hadn't had much of an appetite.  It was interesting to find out that before they had all the fancy machinery, that my stomach pain and loss of appetite was the only way they would diagnosis appendicitis.  

We got up to the room and changed, filled out a handful of papers, and then it was just a waiting game. Of course since it was a hospital, as people came in that were worse than me, they got moved up.  My friend Jess came up and saw me in the waiting room and brought me a pretty plant prior to me getting moved over to another wing.  We were all supposed to go participate in Austin Restaurant Week that evening.  Obviously, my body had other plans for me.  At around 8:30 p.m. it was my turn in the OR.  

 D and Jess decided that they had to document what I would look like going into surgery. Lovely!

 Darrell thought that I needed to wear this all the time.  He thought it was comical. :o)

I was a little nervous about being put under since I'd never had before.  They wheeled me in the OR, and they gave me some of the anesthesia through my IV, but I was wake in the OR.  It wasn't until after 4-5 breathes that I was out.  While I was in surgery, D had to run home and check on the pup.  She quickly ate before we left, but needed to be let out at least one more time that evening.  He just got home and took her out when he got called that I was out of surgery.  I woke up in the recovery wing, and then they wheeled me to my room where I would be staying over night.  D showed up about 5 minutes later.  I had some pretty annoying pain where my incision was over the belly button, and it was causing that annoying back pain that was even worse.  I finally got the nurse to get me some apple juice and crackers so I could take some pills, since the IV medicine wasn't helping.  I remember talking with D for a little bit, but then I was pretty much out.  

I woke up around 3:30 a.m. and was wide awake.  I tried to find stuff on the TV, but there is not much on at that hour.  Of course there is always SportsCenter.  I left it on there, and then pretty much played on my phone for 2 hours. Late night Facebooking is always fun. :o)  I went back to sleep from around 6 to 7:30 a.m. when the nurse had to check my vitals.  I also got to wear these crazy things on my legs that compressed one leg and then the other to keep the blood flowing.  I actually really enjoyed them.  It was almost like having someone massage your legs.  The doctor came in around 8 a.m. to see how I was doing.  He showed me the different pictures he took of my appendix before and after it was removed.  I also got a picture of my liver and my ovary, just because he needed to fill up the 4 picture space on the page.  I really enjoyed my surgeon, he was a hoot.  

 These were the fun leg compressors and the socks that I so graciously got to wear!

Here are my beautiful battle scars.  The two smaller ones were for the cameras and the large one above my belly button was where the appendix came out of.

Around 10 a.m. I finally got through all the discharge stuff and got wheeled out of the hospital.  It was nice to get some fresh air.  So far today I have just been taking advil and I feel pretty decent for it not even being 24 hours since it happened.  They doc said I could walk around and eat what I wanted, but to just take it slow.  So strange to think that Monday I had no problems and today I have 3 little incisions from the laparoscopic surgery.  So much fun.  Damn you appendix.  Although, if it was going to happen, this was a good time.  I don't have a wedding until the 16th, and I fly to see my bestie over our bday weekend at the end of October.  I'm just glad I got it taken care of and will still be able to enjoy my favorite month out of the year!!! 

 Top Right: That is my appendix all swollen and pissed off

Bottom Left: Is an image of the appendix removed

Top Left: Is a picture of my right ovary that was hidden in the CT scan

Bottom Right: Is my liver and my gallbladder (I think)

I wanted to say thank you for all the love and support I got over this short period of time.  I really enjoyed all the remarks on FB, the texts and phone calls.  You all are amazing and I love you all!  B

 The beautiful surprise I found at my door today!  Thanks Kate, Kyle and NG!!!!!

PS- I hope the pictures don't gross you out, but I find them fascinating so I had to share!!