Thankfully, this week is just about over. Not that I want to go back to work (I love my job but it IS a job); I’m just happy the past week is… well… past.
It seems I’ve had an attack of appendicitis this week. On Tuesday evening, I was in a fair bit of abdominal pain; I stayed home from work on Wednesday so I could catch up on my sleep. Thursday, I went back to work as the pain had subsided quite a bit; it was still there, just not as intense as earlier. One of my co-workers suggested that perhaps I should have had it checked out, just to be on the safe side, so I left work before lunch and went to my doctor’s office.
After checking me out, the doctor thought it might be my appendix and sent me off to the hospital for further tests. This was just after lunch. I was home again by about 5:30 p.m. The ER doctor agreed that it might be my appendix but the blood work came back negative for infection, and as I had no fever, he decided to send me home with a requisition for a pelvic ultrasound on Saturday.
When we walked in the door, after picking up some fried chicken for a quick dinner, the first thing I noticed was a bouquet of gorgeous pink roses on the dining room table! It was Valentine’s Day! The header picture is of those roses. I love my husband!
I showed up for the ultrasound at the scheduled 9:30 a.m. yesterday and the first question I was asked was, “Is your bladder full?” I said no, I’d been given instructions not to eat or drink anything 12 hours in advance of the ultrasound. That, apparently, presented a problem. For a lower abdominal ultrasound, the bladder should be full to bursting, not empty. I showed her the instructions I’d been given, highlighted in yellow. Someone had given me the wrong instructions.
She phoned the ER and then told me I had to head back down there, I was expected. The doctor there would decide the best course of action.
Everyone in the ER was sympathetic and, in all fairness, they did fast track me… I think. It was still well over two hours before I saw a doctor. He said that, in reality, this screw up might just work in my favour. He examined me, asked a few questions, then scheduled a CT scan.
Once I’d had the scan, it took almost another hour or more to find out that, indeed, it was my appendix and a surgeon had been called and would see me in about half an hour. By this time, it was already after 3:00 p.m. and I’d had nothing to eat or drink since dinner time on Friday. The nurse wouldn’t let me have anything as no one was certain whether or not I’d be having surgery.
Finally, the surgeon and another doctor arrived. More examination ensued; more questions were asked. The two doctors left me alone while they went to consult. When they came back, a few minutes later, the surgeon let me know what was going on. My appendix was, indeed, inflamed but just a little. Because there was no fever, there was probably no infection. He gave me three options.
1. Go home and see if the improvement continued
2. Go home with antibiotics in case there was, indeed, an infection. He, personally didn’t like that option as antibiotics could mask something else that might be going on.
3. Remove the appendix and have done with it.
Seeing as the pain levels had been coming down all week, and seeing as I was hungry and thirsty and the thought of having nothing to eat for even longer wasn’t a pleasing one, I decided to go home. The surgeon concurred.
He did say that if I experienced any change in pain levels to come back right away and to let the triage nurse know that I’d already had a CT scan and seen a surgeon, who is on call all weekend. That would speed things along, apparently.
By the time John arrived to pick me up, it was after 4:00 p.m. I was hungry, tired, and felt desperately in need of a hot bath. Needless to say, no knitting was done all day. Nothing I’d planned came to fruition.
Hopefully, today I’ll be able to get a few things done that I wanted to do yesterday… like mailing the Metalouse shawl!
Strings 'n Things 