A Scar is Born

<-- me in the ER being prepped for the OR

This week has proven to be a bit tumultuous. It was going to be filled with school, school, observations, and more school, but instead featured a trip to the Urgent Care Center, blood tests, a trip to the ER, more blood tests, an ultrasound, my first ever trip to the OR, my first ever general anesthesia, and one emergency appendectomy! That's sort of the basics. Now you may be asking, "How did it happen?" Well, I had a gross stomach from the time I woke up on Tuesday morning. I left the elementary school (where I was supposed to be doing observations all day) at 10:00am. None of the "traditional" stomach remedies (i.e.: Pepto, Sprite, Rolaids, bland foods, etc.) would help, so by the afternoon, the above mentioned activities were set into action. Being the dorky student I am, however, I did leave University Health Services' Urgent Care center for about 30 minutes while they were running my blood tests to do a presentation in my Tuesday evening class. That's what you call devotion (or, just stupidity). Brian came and picked me up from UHS and drove me over to St. David's.

the offending appendage -->

Once we were actually in a room, it became the most efficient ER experience of my life. I got into a room around 8:30pm, and was being wheeled into the OR by 10:10pm. Everyone was really nice and young and professional. I'd highly recommend St. David's for all of your appendix-removal needs.

It was laparoscopic surgery, so I only have 3 small incisions across my abdomen (unlike in Luwig Bemelmans' beloved childhood classic tale Madeline). Mom drove in from Clyde and arrived just shortly before I got out of the recovery room. We had a hospital sleepover, all cozy in my room on the heart floor (I was an overflow and was pretty much the only patient on the floor under age 80-- one of the nurses stopped me while Mom & I were walking the hall on Wednesday and told me how nice it was to have young, spry patients such as myself on that floor).
<-- This basically sums up the week.

Mom camped out here in Austin until Thursday afternoon (as she, sadly, had to go home to teach on Friday). Many thanks to Mom, Brian, Janelle, and the fabulous nurses & doctors at St. David's for taking good care of me, and to the many others who keep calling to check up on me. I'm feeling much better now, and will likely be back on a "normal" schedule after the weekend.