After a nice thanksgiving weekend, filled with visiting family members, I awoke on Sunday morning with a severe pain in my stomach area. Naturally, I assumed I had eaten too much, but gradually, I realized that this pain was not due to over eating. So I made a doctors appointment for monday, and stayed home from work.
Pretty much immediately, my doctor diagnosed me with appendicitis. I was sent off to confirm this by cat scan. The cat scan doctor took one look at the read out and said, "Yup, you have acute appendicitis, go to Mt. Sinai emergency room." I went over, and in the next few hours had surgery!
So, in traditional David Mortimer style, I ate a lot and went to the hospital. Right now, I'm on pain killers and out of work for a week. Although appendectomies are reasonably straightforward (mine wasn't ruptured) the recovery is still a little painful because your stomach muscles are all messed up. I can't lift stuff, or do anything that exerts those muscles.
Several family members have pointed out that I can now do any sort of extreme outdoor trip. Apparently, there are some trips out there that you aren't allowed to go on, unless you've already had your appendix out because there is no telling when you might get appendicitis and you aren't going to be an easy position to evacuate. Naturally, I won't be doing any of these trips.
My grandma in Maine asked Lila if there was anything she could do, and Lila said that a phone call would be nice. Grandma then said that she wanted to get me something. She said, "Girls get 'get well flowers' Dave gets 'get well giftcards'!"
Needless to say, Lila has been wonderful, helping me, managing phone calls, and just being all around great. She just asked me, "What's it like having a personal nurse?"
