She Can Be Taught!

Big news: last night I went to the doctor. Why is that big news, you ask? Well, because just one year ago this week I refused to pay attention the horrible pain in my stomach for 6 days until my sisters forced me to go to the doctor and they found my appendix had BURST and I had a little infection issue…..yikes. Emergency surgery, 4 days in the hospital, another week laid up at home, and tons of antibiotics later, I learned my lesson. PAY ATTENTION to your body or you very well may become septic and not wake up again (which the doctor said could have happened in my case).

The short story of my appendix is (WARNING: I don’t do short stories…) that on a Saturday night I had some pain in my stomach. Didn’t think much of it, but at church the next morning I was very tired and some friends said that I looked sick. Later that afternoon I had a fever, but I still packed my bag to go to Kansas City for a three day business meeting. The meeting was important enough that I could ignore the pain during the day (while I alternated eating Tylenol and Advil like candy), but the evenings were terrible! One evening our activity was to go to the Royals/Yankees game. I really wanted to see an outdoor baseball game and I also didn’t want to back out because “my stomach hurts” (there were 14 of us and I was the only female. I could just imagine what they would think of me). So I toughed it out. I got back to the cities on Wed and proceeded to go on another trip for business to Wisconsin. On the drive home Friday night I felt SO SICK. My sisters were going to meet me at my house to go to the cabin for a Sisters Only weekend. Well, when I told them how I felt they FORCED me to go to the hospital. I just wanted to get to Brainerd and see if I still felt sick the next day, but they (thankfully) convinced me to take the detour. That was about 8pm on Fri, and by 2am I was being cut open. My poor sisters. On their only weekend off from working in the hospital, they spent their cabin weekend at a hospital with me.

People who have appendicitis don’t usually get to the point where it bursts since the pain usually gets them to a hospital before that point. But I just ignored and ignored and ignored the signs. My mother was (rightfully) very concerned that I did that, so I made a promise that I wouldn’t do it again.

Here’s the problem: it seems like every time I go to the doctor, they have no idea what is going on with me. So that is why I avoid going. Even with my appendix, I thought they would tell me I was constipated and send me home with a laxative. Usually I just have a strange virus or a really bad cold, so I just decide that I am tough enough to let it pass, but I learned quickly that appendicitis doesn’t just pass…

So last night when my fever topped 101, I could hardly swallow, I was having chills, and my ENTIRE BODY ACHED, I went to Now Care. I thought I might have Avian Flu. More realistically I figured I had strep (or that’s what I was hoping, so as to not waste my time and theirs). I wanted to get medicine before I went to the cabin for the weekend. No such luck. Just a bad virus. Meh. So here I am, at home, still with a fever, still with aching, but hoping it passes soon so I can head north!

And again, I feel silly for going to the doctor for “nothing”. But there is no doubt I am sick, and I also proved that I can be taught!