Missing Body Parts

Friday was a busy day and I was exhausted by the end of it. We went out to dinner sine I was feeling too tired to cook. During the meal I was trying to enjoy it but I was starting to have some stomach pain that felt like mild cramps that was putting a damper on our meal. I didn't eat much and told Spencer that I was just tired and would probably go to bed early. 

Spencer and I had registered to do this crazy obstacle course race Saturday morning with some friends so we needed to get to bed early anyway. After we put the kids to bed I decided that at 8:00 I was ready for bed myself. My stomach was still bothering me a little bit so I tried to use the bathroom, but with no luck I just laid down and instantly fell asleep. A little over an hour later I woke up because of pain in my stomach, this time it felt worse than just mild cramps. I tried to go to the bathroom again, but again nothing. I laid back down and tried to fall asleep thinking I could sleep the pain away. I tossed around and tried laying in different positions for about an hour then Spencer came to bed. He thought that maybe I was constipated and that was why my stomach was hurting so bad. He brought me a bottle of water which I drank and tried to go again, and again no luck. I tossed around in bed wanting to sleep but knowing that it probably wasn't going to be a reality since the pain seemed to be getting worse. After more tossing and more attempts at going to the bathroom I could tell I was really starting to annoy Spencer since he was trying to get some rest before our race in the morning. I took my pillow and a blanket and made myself a bed in our closet. The pain just kept getting worse, it felt like I had a knife shoved through my belly button. I did all that I could to aleve the pain, but nothing seemed to work.

By this point I knew this wasn't just constipation, I was convinced that it was kidney stones. I've had kidney stones once before and the pain was similar and my dad has had them a number of times. I knew that if it was kidney stones all I could do was drink water and try to flush them out of my system. So I sat in my closet drinking bottle after bottle of water hoping the kidney stones would pass so I could get some relief. This went on until a little after 2am. with no change. The pain got so bad that I just couldn't take it any longer. I went into our room and woke up Spencer and told him that I needed to go to the hospital. After several failed attempts trying to get a hold of my parents I called my brother and asked him if he could come and take me to the hospital. After Cody agreed to come get me Spencer helped me get dressed and took me downstairs where I laid on the tile floor until Cody arrived.

My brother drove like a madman to the hospital, but we got there in one piece. I guess it was good practice for him since Allison is due in a month. At the emergency room I was admitted right away, which was a shocker, and was given some pain meds immediately. I was taken to have a CAT Scan where the doctor determined that I had appendicitis. I was told that I would have surgery at 9am to have my appendix removed. The doctor told me that I was lucky that my appendix didn't burst and that I had come in at the right time. I was then given more drugs to help with the pain and I was finally able to fall asleep. Cody was great and stayed with me most of the time. He called Spencer and my parents to let them know what was going on. Cody went home around 5am leaving me to sleep.

The nurse woke me up about an hour before surgery to prep me and move me to the pre-op room. Spencer arrived about 2 minutes before I went into surgery, I sure was glad to be able to see him for a couple of minutes. The surgery lasted about an hour and I woke up about an hour after that. The surgery went well and I am now without an appendix. But let me tell you.....coming out of anesthesia is no joke! I can't even describe the way that I felt when I first woke up, it was crazy. Spencer told me later that I was saying all kinds of crazy things.

Within an hour of waking up the nurse told me that I was discharged and that it was time to go home. I was shocked that I was going home already, I felt horrible and nowhere near ready to walk anywhere.  Somehow Spencer was able to get me to the car and home to my bed where I proceeded to sleep for the entire rest of the day and night. When I woke up this morning I felt a lot better. Still tired, and a little sore, but better. My mom had come to help Spencer with the kids which was great because I am to be on bed rest for the rest of today and tomorrow. I have 4 staples in my stomach which will be removed in about 7-10 days. In the meantime I'm not allowed to get wet, other than a quick shower, and I can't exercise or do any strenuous activities, or lift my baby for two weeks. Not sure how all that is going to work since we are leaving for vacation on Thursday, but we will see.

I'm just grateful that I am okay and I'm grateful for loving and supportive family members who are so willing to step in and help out when we need it. What a crazy last couple of days!