Appendix no more!

Last week I was supposed to fly down to San Diego to do some training on our migration from Sun's defect tracking system to Oracle's - you know, to get folks up to speed on the changes and a basic down and dirty training on how to use the new tools.

Well, that didn't happen - I got my appendix out instead!

What started as "gas" on Saturday night (painful bloating feeling), got more and more severe as time went on, including nausea and loss of appetite. Sunday, October 28, I had my husband take me to the ER.

I was convinced it was an ovarian cyst, as the last time I had this same pain (not too long ago), that's what it was diagnosed as by the ER doctors, so I nearly didn't bother to go in again, not wanting to spend the night in the ER before flying to San Diego on Monday morning.

I did have a small cyst (perfectly normal for a woman of reproductive age), but the cyst was on my left and the pain was on the right. So, the doctor's still refused my request for food/water, gave me a giant bottle of contrast to drink and left me to sleep, with my dear husband uncomfortably curled up in a "recliner" at my side.  Once the contrast settled in, I was taken to get a CT scan, moments later, my ER doctor (my 3rd since arriving) told me I was getting my appendix out.

A couple of quick visits from the surgeons, I was talking to the very kind anesthesiologist, Margie, about my health history and previous times I've been under general anesthetic. Then it was time.

I checked into the ER at about 8PM, had my CT scan about 4:15AM, was in the OR prep room at 6:10 AM (last time I remember looking at the clock) and *home* before 8AM feeling a thousand times better.  As painful as surgery can be, it beats appendicitis any day!

I encountered so many friendly nurses and doctors in the hospital, all very patient, caring and kind.

Now, just more than a week later, I'm just a bit sore and still a tad tired, but overall feeling good.

Put quite a damper on my week's plans, but I'm happy the surgeons got to it before it burst!