Curious George goes to the hospital
One word - appendectomy!
In only 36 hours, I went from first vague symptoms to awakening from my very first surgery:
5:30 am Wed - woke up feeling like maybe I was catching something, had some sinus congestion but wasn't actually sick at this point
7:15 am - morning exercise routine
8:15 am - went to work
6:00 pm - left work thinking maybe I had a fever, to be checked when I finally get home
6:30 pm - ate dinner out with family (first dinner out in quite some time)
9:00 pm - got home, had fever of 99.5F, figured I was getting a sinus infection
10:30 pm - went to sleep
2:30 am Thurs - awakened by sharp right-side abdominal pain, figured it was the dinner out, repositioned and went back to sleep
4:30 am - woke up and still hurting in same spot, suspicious of appendix (not much else in the area)
5:45 am - checked into ER
10:45 am - CT scan confirms very enlarged appendix
2:30 pm - entered surgery
5:30 pm - first recollection of consciousness, tried to feel my abdomen with my left hand but somebody kept pushing my hand away so I gave up and asked what time it was
4:45 pm Friday - went home from hospital
Interestingly, I had not had any pains or problems leading up to this. I was scheduled to leave the state on business Sunday afternoon for the entire week. Had this happened only a few days later, it could have been MUCH more complicated. As it stands now, my participation in the trip is obviously cancelled - and I'm lying around the house in much more pain than I started this journey with.
What I considered after the diagnosis was confirmed is that, had I been in this condition say 100 years ago, it may very well have been my demise. Our bodies are on the one hand quite resilient and yet on the other quite fragile. Prior to surgery I had to discuss and "sign off" on all the possible risks of my treatment, up to and including death. However, I knew the risks of NOT being operated on were much worse, so there was no real decision to make. When I lay on the OR table starting the anesthesia, I had my last purposefully chosen conscious thoughts and resigned myself to possible, though unlikely, death. I didn't expect to dream, but I think I did, though I cannot recall exactly what about. When I awakened and there was no flurry of activity about me I figured not only was I alive but all had gone well enough.
The only other thing that comes to mind was that in the morning before surgery I was able to start reading "On a Pale Horse" (fiction) which seems interesting enough to continue reading when I feel better. I suspect most people won't care for it, depending on what sort of life they have led. My point being that if you've had a charmed life and hence can't identify with the main character you're almost certainly not going to find it compelling. Additionally, I think the ideas and concepts of the story are better than the telling of the story, so in some sense the story is good and yet in another not so good. Yet neither is terrible so it balances out for me.
In only 36 hours, I went from first vague symptoms to awakening from my very first surgery:
5:30 am Wed - woke up feeling like maybe I was catching something, had some sinus congestion but wasn't actually sick at this point
7:15 am - morning exercise routine
8:15 am - went to work
6:00 pm - left work thinking maybe I had a fever, to be checked when I finally get home
6:30 pm - ate dinner out with family (first dinner out in quite some time)
9:00 pm - got home, had fever of 99.5F, figured I was getting a sinus infection
10:30 pm - went to sleep
2:30 am Thurs - awakened by sharp right-side abdominal pain, figured it was the dinner out, repositioned and went back to sleep
4:30 am - woke up and still hurting in same spot, suspicious of appendix (not much else in the area)
5:45 am - checked into ER
10:45 am - CT scan confirms very enlarged appendix
2:30 pm - entered surgery
5:30 pm - first recollection of consciousness, tried to feel my abdomen with my left hand but somebody kept pushing my hand away so I gave up and asked what time it was
4:45 pm Friday - went home from hospital
Interestingly, I had not had any pains or problems leading up to this. I was scheduled to leave the state on business Sunday afternoon for the entire week. Had this happened only a few days later, it could have been MUCH more complicated. As it stands now, my participation in the trip is obviously cancelled - and I'm lying around the house in much more pain than I started this journey with.
What I considered after the diagnosis was confirmed is that, had I been in this condition say 100 years ago, it may very well have been my demise. Our bodies are on the one hand quite resilient and yet on the other quite fragile. Prior to surgery I had to discuss and "sign off" on all the possible risks of my treatment, up to and including death. However, I knew the risks of NOT being operated on were much worse, so there was no real decision to make. When I lay on the OR table starting the anesthesia, I had my last purposefully chosen conscious thoughts and resigned myself to possible, though unlikely, death. I didn't expect to dream, but I think I did, though I cannot recall exactly what about. When I awakened and there was no flurry of activity about me I figured not only was I alive but all had gone well enough.
The only other thing that comes to mind was that in the morning before surgery I was able to start reading "On a Pale Horse" (fiction) which seems interesting enough to continue reading when I feel better. I suspect most people won't care for it, depending on what sort of life they have led. My point being that if you've had a charmed life and hence can't identify with the main character you're almost certainly not going to find it compelling. Additionally, I think the ideas and concepts of the story are better than the telling of the story, so in some sense the story is good and yet in another not so good. Yet neither is terrible so it balances out for me.