Thursday, September 30, 2010

Guess what?!?

I had surgery.

Yep, surgery, my first (and hopefully my last) ever.

It all started on Monday night. I had pasta for lunch, and then we went out for dinner at CiCi's pizza with Tobys Mom and the kids. I had quite a bit more than I
needed to eat, so when my stomach started to hurt I thought that I most likely just had a bad case of gas from all of the greasy pizza and all of the carbs.

But I spent most of the night tossing and turning. I kept waking up laying on my side, curled up in pain.

Finally, around 5:30 in the morning, the pain became unbearable enough that I couldn't go back to sleep. I woke up and took a long hot shower. I felt better for the next hour or so, though I was still very crampy. Around 8:30 the pains started coming back heavily. My grandma came over to pick up Ian about an hour later and asked if I wanted to go to breakfast with them. I convinced myself that if I just got up, got moving, and stopped thinking about it that the pain would just go away.

In the car on the way to Bob Evans, it got a thousand times worse. I spent most of the time that we were at the restaurant sitting in the bathroom and crying hysterically, just praying that I would go ahead and just explode, since that's what it felt like was going to eventually happen. We left early, and I went home. I took a hot bath. While I was completely submerged in the water, it didn't hurt much. But as soon as I got out of the bath the pain was back.

I didn't want to go to the hospital unless I was dying because we currently don't have insurance. I had medicaid when I was pregnant with Ian, and for a couple of months
afterwards. Tobys work has just started offering medical coverage, which we were planning on buying into...next month. So, obviously, I didn't want to go to the hospital unless I had to.

But, the pain got so bad that I had to go. I sat in the emergency room waiting area, hunched over crying for about 15 minutes before they took me back. The pain was just so unbearable. It was kind of like being in labor, only it felt completely hopeless. At least when you are in labor you know that in the end there will be a good result (an adorable new baby!) and that the pain will eventually end. Plus, there is always the epidural option. However, with this, I just felt like the pain was never going to end. I was more afraid that they wouldn't be able to find anything wrong with me then the idea that they would find something I wrong. I needed the pain to end.

I got some morphine (which didn't help much) and then got a CAT scan. After a little while, they said that my appendix had to come out. The first thing I asked was "Now that you know I'm actually in pain...can I PLEASE have some more damn drugs?". They gave me more morphine.

The surgeon came in soon afterwards to discuss everything with me, and just as we were talking he got a call that they had an opening in the O.R. So, my surgery went from being the next morning, to right away. I had been too sick to eat or drink all day, so I was ready for surgery. They prepped me, and I was out. About an hour later, I was appendix free!
Me right after I got out of surgery. I know, I look good.

The nurses and doctors were great, and I actually felt pretty good the first day after the surgery. They kept me comfortable, and I was just glad to be out of the pain. However today and yesterday have been another story. I am just so stiff, sore, and bruised up, moving is hard. Ian has been staying with family, so I've missed him. Toby had to take a day and a half off work to take care of me, so he is scrambling to make up 20 more hours before Sunday. He's been taking great care of me though, and I am so thankful for him.

So, anyways, now you have the full story on me and my insides.

I'll update more later, but for now, I think I'm going to try and get more sleep.

6 comments:

  1. Bless your heart!!! Fell better soon! I know after my D&C (a month after Keegan was born) my body hurt from all the excess air. It does help to move around and hot packs help! Feel better soon hon, I am thinking of you!

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  2. Wow. Scary stuff! Glad it went well and you are OK now. I had that kind of pain following a miscarriage; had to have an emergency D&C. Why does it seem that these things only come to the level of "emergency" at 5 and 6 AM?? ;) Also, I know that some hospitals (definitely Riverside, where I went) offer payment assistance through some charity foundations (like Ohio Health Foundation) and they offer it at different levels based on income. You don't have to be "impoverished" to get help - just to get the *most* help. You might look into that.

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  3. Im glad you are feeling better!!! Take care friend.

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  4. Beth, I know what you mean, the air is killing me! Plus, between that and the swelling I look 6 months pregnant! lol.

    Hayley, I am looking into that. However, even at 80% off (which is what we will most likely get) it will still cost us somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000. But, alas, it needed to be done. You can't but a price on health.

    Jenifer, thanks darling! =)

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  5. oh wow, that is scary! Sucks your insurance hadn't kicked in :( I thought once yuoa pplied for Medicaid you always had it...

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  6. I did at one point. I got pregnant with Ian (unplanned) during the first 90 days at my work, so I didn't have insurance. So I had medicaid during my pregnancy with him, but I lost it when he was around 6 months old. Our income is too high to qualify now, which is fine, because we can afford to get insurance through Tobys work. However, they are a new-ish company so they have just now come up with a decent medical plan. Before now it was like 200.00 a week for HORRIBLE insurance. They were only covering 20%. But, starting next month it is good insurance at a decent cost, so we were planning on buying into it then. But, God decided my appendix couldn't wait! lol.

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