appendicitis in a foreign country...
Copied and pasted here from my myspace blog....
4 days later and 1 organ short
Current mood: drained
I wrote the following while in the hospital, so it is very possible that the majority is drug induced. Enjoy!
So, as I am writing this, I am sitting in my hospital room bored to death. That's right, I said hospital room… as some of you may know due to my drug/ boredom induced phone calls, I have been in the hospital since Friday October 6th. The reason? Basically, my appendix (Blindarm- that's right… blind. arm. In German) hates me. Since I have absolutely nothing better to do and am writing this with the intention of blogging it at a later date when I have internet, I will go ahead and tell the whole story.
Basically, I had just made lunch for the family, was sitting down to fold clothes and felt a sudden pain in my lower right abdomen. Ouch. The thing is, I'm pretty aware of my body and I knew that this definitely was not a normal sensation. Either way, I decided that I would just see if the pain would pass since it wasn't unbearable, and basically just felt like stomach cramps. So there I was lying in the fetal position for about 4 hours until I decided that I should probably do something about it since I would be leaving for Oktoberfest the next morning at 7am…
Off to the hospital I go with my host mom, feeling terrible; not because of the pain I was feeling, but because I was cramping everyone else's plans. You see, not only was I going to Munich on Saturday, but it was also the start of my personal vacation and the family was leaving for Italy the same day. Into the emergency room I go completely convinced that this pain had nothing to do with my appendix because I made sure to call my friend who had his appendix removed in Germany last summer and tell me what his pain felt like. Apparently I have a pretty high pain tolerance threshold. Basically, after seeing the hospital's gynecologist, an experience I would rather not talk about, getting a blood test, and having a sonogram performed by the most gorgeous German doctor, it was decided that, in fact, I should have my appendix removed- about ½ an hour later…
Pretty much I don't remember what was going through my mind at the time except that I am in a foreign country, in a hospital, about to have a surgery and with absolutely no family or my really close friends around. I'm not going to lie, I was a little freaked out. That's about all I remember because shortly after this, I was getting into my dressing gown and being drugged. I am told by my cell phone call log that I got in touch with a lot of my family and friends from home and I'm pretty sure I sent everyone in my cell phone this message:
"Uh. So I am kind of having my appendix removed in about 45 minutes. Really."
I'm sure that is going to be a really awesome cell phone bill for my host family.
All I can say is that I have never been able to understand or speak German better than I was able to after that surgery. Basically, if I want my German to be amazing, I have to be heavily drugged. Good to know. I'm not going to go into the details of how bruised/ scarred I am, though I'm sure it could be worse, it's not a pretty sight. I was also told after the surgery that my appendix was close to exploding and that I was lucky that it happened when it did. Can you imagine if I was in Munich during Oktoberfest when this happened? The people in the hospital would have probably just though I was another drunk American and ignored me.
Anyway, I am recovering quickly and I was able to walk around the day after my surgery. because I am awesome, and basically I can't sit still for that long, even if it involves pain…
I must say though that I am really happy that I am the outgoing person that I am. Because of this, I have luckily had quite a few visitors who have brought me movies, candies, magazines, company, and such. So, now I'm just waiting to be let out of here because I am pretty sure I am going to go stir crazy. One can only walk around the hospital so many times before the nurses start looking at you like you're crazy and lost- I don't necessarily like being looked at like that. I'm going to go ahead and include a few pictures that I took while walking around the hospital- thank god I have my camera with me wherever I go, otherwise I would be bored to DEATH!
My experience in comic form:
uhhh.... this is the painting that they decided to hang outside of the birthing ward. I like to call it: PLACENTA!
I think that's about all I've got for now. I'm going to go try and watch a movie now without falling asleep.
4 days later and 1 organ short
Current mood: drained
I wrote the following while in the hospital, so it is very possible that the majority is drug induced. Enjoy!
So, as I am writing this, I am sitting in my hospital room bored to death. That's right, I said hospital room… as some of you may know due to my drug/ boredom induced phone calls, I have been in the hospital since Friday October 6th. The reason? Basically, my appendix (Blindarm- that's right… blind. arm. In German) hates me. Since I have absolutely nothing better to do and am writing this with the intention of blogging it at a later date when I have internet, I will go ahead and tell the whole story.
Basically, I had just made lunch for the family, was sitting down to fold clothes and felt a sudden pain in my lower right abdomen. Ouch. The thing is, I'm pretty aware of my body and I knew that this definitely was not a normal sensation. Either way, I decided that I would just see if the pain would pass since it wasn't unbearable, and basically just felt like stomach cramps. So there I was lying in the fetal position for about 4 hours until I decided that I should probably do something about it since I would be leaving for Oktoberfest the next morning at 7am…
Off to the hospital I go with my host mom, feeling terrible; not because of the pain I was feeling, but because I was cramping everyone else's plans. You see, not only was I going to Munich on Saturday, but it was also the start of my personal vacation and the family was leaving for Italy the same day. Into the emergency room I go completely convinced that this pain had nothing to do with my appendix because I made sure to call my friend who had his appendix removed in Germany last summer and tell me what his pain felt like. Apparently I have a pretty high pain tolerance threshold. Basically, after seeing the hospital's gynecologist, an experience I would rather not talk about, getting a blood test, and having a sonogram performed by the most gorgeous German doctor, it was decided that, in fact, I should have my appendix removed- about ½ an hour later…
Pretty much I don't remember what was going through my mind at the time except that I am in a foreign country, in a hospital, about to have a surgery and with absolutely no family or my really close friends around. I'm not going to lie, I was a little freaked out. That's about all I remember because shortly after this, I was getting into my dressing gown and being drugged. I am told by my cell phone call log that I got in touch with a lot of my family and friends from home and I'm pretty sure I sent everyone in my cell phone this message:
"Uh. So I am kind of having my appendix removed in about 45 minutes. Really."
I'm sure that is going to be a really awesome cell phone bill for my host family.
All I can say is that I have never been able to understand or speak German better than I was able to after that surgery. Basically, if I want my German to be amazing, I have to be heavily drugged. Good to know. I'm not going to go into the details of how bruised/ scarred I am, though I'm sure it could be worse, it's not a pretty sight. I was also told after the surgery that my appendix was close to exploding and that I was lucky that it happened when it did. Can you imagine if I was in Munich during Oktoberfest when this happened? The people in the hospital would have probably just though I was another drunk American and ignored me.
Anyway, I am recovering quickly and I was able to walk around the day after my surgery. because I am awesome, and basically I can't sit still for that long, even if it involves pain…
I must say though that I am really happy that I am the outgoing person that I am. Because of this, I have luckily had quite a few visitors who have brought me movies, candies, magazines, company, and such. So, now I'm just waiting to be let out of here because I am pretty sure I am going to go stir crazy. One can only walk around the hospital so many times before the nurses start looking at you like you're crazy and lost- I don't necessarily like being looked at like that. I'm going to go ahead and include a few pictures that I took while walking around the hospital- thank god I have my camera with me wherever I go, otherwise I would be bored to DEATH!
My experience in comic form:
uhhh.... this is the painting that they decided to hang outside of the birthing ward. I like to call it: PLACENTA!
I think that's about all I've got for now. I'm going to go try and watch a movie now without falling asleep.