My "Ordeal" aka why I have less guts then i did last week
My "ordeal" as my mom calls it started when I woke up at 4:30 AM Thursday with a stabbing pain in my upper abdomen. My mom thought it might be severe heartburn and we decided to see if it would go away. So I took some antacid and a Vicodin and after watching "The Fifth Element" On HBO (the whole thing from start to end) it went away enough that I tried to sleep. But by 2 PM Thursday the pain had moved lower and gotten worse. Like a true child of my connected generation I went to web MD and looked up my symptoms and determined I had appendicitis. I called my doctor and spoke to an assistant who advised me to go to the ER. So at 2:30 My Dad took me around the corner to the hospital where we waited to be seen by a doctor for a couple of hours because the ER was packed. A little aside here about the packed ER. President Obama flew into SF Thursday afternoon for a fund raising dinner that night. Seems that when the Pres comes to town the protocol is to close down the Trauma center at SF General "just in case". Since SF General is the main trauma center for the city, that means all the other hospitals have to absorb the cases, many of which are life-threatening like shootings, drug overdoses, etc., that would normally go there. Hence all ERs were packed on Thursday afternoon and those people with lesser emergencies had to wait longer than usual to be seen. At least they got me on pain medication pretty quickly and by 7 PM they determined that I was right - it was appendicitis. They did this through a mix of blood tests (which showed i WAS fighting an infection) and a CT scan. I was admitted to the hospital around 9 PM and they operated at something between 6 and 8 Friday morning. Fortunately my appendix was just inflamed and had not ruptured. It was a laparoscopic procedure (they looked in with a camera) so I have three tiny incisions that they closed with super glue. I was a little weirded out when mu underwear came back in a bio hazard bag and then I realized someone I will never meet shaved me but whatever. I was a bit groggy from the anesthesia, and must have bit my lip coming out of it because ti was all swollen, until mid-afternoon but by dinner time I was able to walk around and eat real food. I'm still on pain medication, of course, but feels pretty good all things considered. If all goes like we expect I will be good as new by next weekend just in time for my cousins wedding.
So its been a fun three days. My Dad gets kudos for handling almost 7 hours of being with me in the ER (most of the time in the waiting room or on a gurney in the hall) and being assertive while not losing his cool. And, My mom says I get credit for being a trooper through it all. Mostly because I never really freaked out even though I was pretty scared at first (I just wanted to know what the hell was wrong. Once my self-diagnosis was confirmed and the pain was under control I was pretty calm, I guess, or at least compared to how I have been in the past. Amazing what serious drugs can do!
One of those sudden situations that make you realize how precious it is to have good health and a loving, supportive family.
So its been a fun three days. My Dad gets kudos for handling almost 7 hours of being with me in the ER (most of the time in the waiting room or on a gurney in the hall) and being assertive while not losing his cool. And, My mom says I get credit for being a trooper through it all. Mostly because I never really freaked out even though I was pretty scared at first (I just wanted to know what the hell was wrong. Once my self-diagnosis was confirmed and the pain was under control I was pretty calm, I guess, or at least compared to how I have been in the past. Amazing what serious drugs can do!
One of those sudden situations that make you realize how precious it is to have good health and a loving, supportive family.