Thursday I started having gastro-intestinal discomfort which turned into gastro-intestinal pain Friday morning, which led to a trip to the ER on Friday evening. It was located in my lower right side so I was pretty sure, as was every doctor I spoke with, that it was appendicitis.
Finally, at last, after years of worrying that a pulled muscle or some mysterious pain in that general area was appendicitis... it was finally going to be appendicitis!
So, I'm admitted to the hospital, have an IV put in and have blood drawn for the first time since I can remember (one fear off the list, check) and they start giving me fluids and some pain meds. Blessed, blessed pain meds. It was a bit like being drunk, honestly. And on a cloud. I remember having a distinct feeling of being on a cloud. Or wrapped in a cloud.
Anyways.
I got to the ER at around 7:30 and was admitted close to 10 PM. By midnight I was wheeled into the ER hallway (so they could open up the room) to wait to have a CT scan so they could get a better idea of just what was going on in my abdomen. Thankfully I was not alone, when I called on my friends they were there for me in spades. One drove me to the hospital, and another sat with me through most of the night. Also, my BF was there and he was able to go back to my apartment and get things I hadn't thought to grab at the time (the pain was a little distracting).
Around 1 PM I think I was wheeled to get my CT scan, but it's a little fuzzy at this point due to pain meds and being incredibly tired.
When I was being checked up on by one of the admitting ER doctors (an awesome one by the name of Dr. M, she was personable, had a great attitude, and made me feel very comfortable) I mentioned that diverticulitis runs in my family. She noted it but didn't think it was likely due to my age.
Back to the CT scan, I was wheeled down (I did have to drink the barium and it's really not that bad, kind of like a sweet chalky smoothie, in my opinion there are worse things) to the scanner and they explained that they would be running iodine to contrast with the barium. Let me be the one to tell you that iodine is...weird. It's warm as it runs through your veins, almost in a scary way, but not unpleasant. I did have to pee at the time and the iodine didn't help. Luckily I was able to hold it until I could get to a bathroom.
Sometime between 1 PM and later Dr. M stopped by to tell me the results of the CT scan. I'll do my best to script the conversation, but, I was deep in the grip of pain meds and kind of out of it.
"So when the radiologist told me what she saw on your scans I nearly laughed," said Dr. M.
I don't know if I said anything or if I just blinked blearily at her but she continued:
"She told me it looks like diverticulitis!"
"Will I need surgery?"
"Most likely not, but a few members of the surgical team are going to come talk to you," finished Dr. M.
Two guys from the surgical team stopped by later. They prodded my stomach, checked where the pain was, and kept giving me strange looks and telling me how rare my case was. They also said that if they had to operate (they didn't think they would) they would have to take out half my colon. I let them know their expressions and tones were scaring me.
And they explained: "Well, you have to understand, we were expecting a horse, and we got a zebra."
Around 5:30 they finally admitted me into the regular hospital. I got a room to myself! Apparently that's standard practice at the hospital I went to. It was on the 13 floor and we had a great view of the new children's hospital across the way. BF went to explore later and it is sweet. Kind of wished I was a kid so I could have been admitted over there. Kind of.
I stayed in the hospital until Sunday afternoon. I was informed I did indeed have diverticulitis and will likely have to have an elective surgery in the near future. First I get the joy of an intimate procedure that I'm not sure is appropriate to mention on this blog. Let's just say that adults after the age of 50 should be having one on a regular basis. The good news is I recovered fairly quickly and only missed four days of classes. It's a lot but my body decided to pick slightly easier days to miss. Slightly. I still need to borrow notes and read through the recipes (and probably try them) before exams during the first week of April.
To end this long post, I'd like to end with this quote:
"Man plans and God laughs."
PS Can the weather please get it's rear in gear and make with the warm and the sun already??
