I really enjoy Grey's Anatomy. I agree with most people that the earlier seasons were WAY better than the newer seasons (and I'm totally bummed Lexie died) but I still watch it to see what mayhem they come up with! However, watching that show has given me some nervous thoughts about surgery...too many people go in "healthy" and end up dead on the table...
Last night I woke up a few times with a bad pain in my side. I thought maybe it was just upset stomach so I decided to just go back to sleep. I woke up with this pain and decided to take it easy this morning and go into work later. After getting up and really feeling the pain, I went to the internet and typed in lower abdomen pain. I had a feeling it was my appendix, but wanted to see what other options there were. As mentioned in the above paragraph, I love watching Grey's but it has made me very scared to ever have surgery-what if I'm the one that doesn't wake up?! It turned out that the only other symptom of appendicitis I had was a swollen abdomen-it looked like I had gained 5-10 pounds over night!
I called my mom and talked to her, confirming a ride to the hospital if necessary since Phil was at work. She told me to call my doctor and talk to one of her nurses. So I called and left a voice mail. After 2 hours of waiting, my mom came to pick me up and I called the doctor again. I said, "I left a voice mail about 2 hrs ago, and haven't heard anything. I think I am having issues with my appendix, is there anyone that I can talk to now?" The operator said, "Oh yes! One moment!" And a triage nurse was on the phone instantly. I told her about my symptoms and she told me to come in.
As I was getting into the car with my mom I called Phil to let him know what was going on-up to this point he had no clue anything was wrong. I didn't want him to worry if the nurse didn't think I needed to go into the Emergency Room. Of course, he wasn't happy I didn't fill him in sooner and left work to come with us.
The doctor agreed that it was probably appendicitis, but could also be ovarian cysts. He wanted to rule out appendix first, so they took some blood and I had a CAT scan. They gave me a contrast through my IV to help make the pictures turn out better. The contrast gives you this really crazy warm feeling, it starts up by your head and neck and travels down your stomach to your...private areas. It was the weirdest feeling-and once it reached down south, it felt like I was peeing. I told the lady I was pretty sure I was going to the bathroom but she laughed and told me I wasn't. Thankfully, she warned me beforehand that the contrast would make me feel that way, so I knew to expect it.
About 30 minutes after the scan, they came in to tell me my appendix is great and all my reproductive parts look good too! Whew! However, my lymph nodes were swollen and that is what was causing the pain. I guess this issue is really common in kids and teenagers, so my body must feel young =] He said there is nothing specific that brings this on, nothing but time and rest to heal it, and nothing will come of it in the future! What a relief!
I ended up feeling kind of silly for going to the E.R. for something that insignificant, but the doctor reassured me that he thought it was my appendix too and I was right to come to the hospital to get it checked out.
I spent the rest of the day on a liquid diet in bed watching The Hills. I'm feeling better, still have some pain, but not nearly as bad as this morning! I'm looking forward to feeling better 100%!
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