My book is a little shorter now
Sep. 26th, 2011 04:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
robotech_masterSaturday, I went out to Wal-Mart to help the folks at the SpringfieldGAME convention hand out fliers to the general public in an effort to raise awareness of the con. People from the local Ghostbusters fan club chapter were there in uniform, including one with a homemade proton pack replica. It was kinda neat.
After that, I had lunch at the northtown Culver’s, a chicken salad sandwich. Then I drove by Mother’s Brewery on the way home and took a tour. Mother’s is a new local brewery that just opened up a few months ago, and they just started selling in bottles a few weeks ago. They’re located in the old Butternut bakery factory.
Saturday afternoon, I started getting a sort of painful ache in my gut. I thought it might be indigestion from the beer, and waited for it to go away, but it didn’t. I tossed and turned all night.
The next day, Sunday, I went in to work for a couple of hours, but it was just too distracting to work and I finally left work early. I didn’t go home, though; I went to the local Urgent Care Center for an examination. I was thinking it might be food poisoning or maybe a touch of the flu, and was hoping they could give me something for the pain so that I could wait it out.
After examining me, the doctor expressed concern that it might be appendicitis, and called for a CT scan. I got to drink an iodine-laced contrast substance, wait an hour, and then get trundled down a corridor to the hospital where they would do the scan. To my dismay, it turned out to call for an enema, but I gamely went along.
And it turned out that I had appendicitis. So before I knew it, I was again trundled off to the hospital for an operation. I called my parents and let them know, and they came up to see me—which they did, briefly, as I was being wheeled out of surgery and into the recovery room. (In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have bothered asking them to drive an hour up and an hour back just for that glimpse. But I’m glad they did.)
The night that followed wasn’t much fun, as I was in a lot of pain and couldn’t move very well. Couldn’t even get up and go to the bathroom. I also experienced a bit of shortness of breath, and they put me on oxygen for a while. But by the time the sun came up Monday I was feeling a little better. I had some apple juice and soda crackers and kept them down, and made a trip across the hall to the bathroom with my nurses’ help. I had a bit of breakfast and then they were ready to release me a little after 8 when my Dad showed up.
I was a little hesitant about being released, as hard a time as I’d had the night before, but the nurses were adamant that I was doing as well as could be expected, and time at home in familiar surroundings would be the best medicine now. So off I went, stopping only at my apartment to grab a couple things for my next couple days’ stay.
So now I’m staying the next couple of days at the home of my parents, recovering. It’s kind of a painful experience so far; it basically feels like someone’s stabbed me in the chest. It’s especially painful when I try to bend over. That being said, I’m impressed by the tiny size of the incisions. This is the first laparoscopic surgery I’ve ever had, and the incisions are covered by three bandaids. They tell me I should recover pretty quickly, and I believe it. The first couple of days after surgery are always the worst.
I did get to see a photo of the offending organ, though they wouldn’t give me a copy of it. It was all swelled up, and despite the pain and inconvenience of the operation I’m glad I got it out before it devolved into a life-threatening condition.
After that, I had lunch at the northtown Culver’s, a chicken salad sandwich. Then I drove by Mother’s Brewery on the way home and took a tour. Mother’s is a new local brewery that just opened up a few months ago, and they just started selling in bottles a few weeks ago. They’re located in the old Butternut bakery factory.
Saturday afternoon, I started getting a sort of painful ache in my gut. I thought it might be indigestion from the beer, and waited for it to go away, but it didn’t. I tossed and turned all night.
The next day, Sunday, I went in to work for a couple of hours, but it was just too distracting to work and I finally left work early. I didn’t go home, though; I went to the local Urgent Care Center for an examination. I was thinking it might be food poisoning or maybe a touch of the flu, and was hoping they could give me something for the pain so that I could wait it out.
After examining me, the doctor expressed concern that it might be appendicitis, and called for a CT scan. I got to drink an iodine-laced contrast substance, wait an hour, and then get trundled down a corridor to the hospital where they would do the scan. To my dismay, it turned out to call for an enema, but I gamely went along.
And it turned out that I had appendicitis. So before I knew it, I was again trundled off to the hospital for an operation. I called my parents and let them know, and they came up to see me—which they did, briefly, as I was being wheeled out of surgery and into the recovery room. (In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have bothered asking them to drive an hour up and an hour back just for that glimpse. But I’m glad they did.)
The night that followed wasn’t much fun, as I was in a lot of pain and couldn’t move very well. Couldn’t even get up and go to the bathroom. I also experienced a bit of shortness of breath, and they put me on oxygen for a while. But by the time the sun came up Monday I was feeling a little better. I had some apple juice and soda crackers and kept them down, and made a trip across the hall to the bathroom with my nurses’ help. I had a bit of breakfast and then they were ready to release me a little after 8 when my Dad showed up.
I was a little hesitant about being released, as hard a time as I’d had the night before, but the nurses were adamant that I was doing as well as could be expected, and time at home in familiar surroundings would be the best medicine now. So off I went, stopping only at my apartment to grab a couple things for my next couple days’ stay.
So now I’m staying the next couple of days at the home of my parents, recovering. It’s kind of a painful experience so far; it basically feels like someone’s stabbed me in the chest. It’s especially painful when I try to bend over. That being said, I’m impressed by the tiny size of the incisions. This is the first laparoscopic surgery I’ve ever had, and the incisions are covered by three bandaids. They tell me I should recover pretty quickly, and I believe it. The first couple of days after surgery are always the worst.
I did get to see a photo of the offending organ, though they wouldn’t give me a copy of it. It was all swelled up, and despite the pain and inconvenience of the operation I’m glad I got it out before it devolved into a life-threatening condition.
