I though that in college I would be able sleep late every day of the week, but I had three 7:30’s first semester! It was horrible! CGT 163 at 7:30 in the morning is HORRIBLE!!! I thought that I could miss a few classes, but if you miss more than three Monday morning lectures you fail the class. 7:30’s should be against the law.

Also, I didn’t realize how far away from my family I really was, because it’s only a ten hour drive. (Not as close as one might think.)
Towards the end of my first semester I had missed two Monday lectures for CGT, and I had a bad stomach ache before lecture. I decided to go to class and tough it out. I was in a lot of pain the entire lecture, so I climbed into the back row and laid down on the floor. It was only a 50 minute lecture, but it seemed like forever!!

After lecture I went to PUSH, and was checked into Urgent Care. They gave me some medication for the nausea, but not the pain… (Thanks PUSH! Nice work!) Then they started running some blood work.

The doctor was pretty nice when she came to see me, “We think that it could be a stomach virus. Where does it hurt?….. Oh really, I’ll be right back.” (It’s not good to surprise a doctor, and it’s worse when the have to go consult with someone else.) 10 minutes later she comes back:

“Ok, it could be a stomach virus or Appendicitis. Any questions?”

“Yeah, can I get something for the pain?” I asked at 12:30 in the afternoon!

“Oh, sure! A nurse will come give you a shot in a little while.” says Dr. X. (Not her real name, duh!)

After the shot the Doctor came back, “Well, the blood work showed an elevated white blood cell count, but that doesn’t tell us much, so we’re gonna take some x-rays. Do you feel up to it?” (Like I had a choice?)

40 minutes, and two wheel chair rides, later the x-rays were back. I had a swollen appendix, but they would need to take a CAT Scan.

“You’re going to be admitted to the hospital, because we can’t do CAT Scans here,” she says.

So I took the shuttle to the hospital, and I was admitted. The nurse had a good laugh because my occupation was listed as “STUD”. That’s right, my occupation is STUD. Anyways, next was time for the CAT Scan preparation. I had to drink a fluid that tasted like a metal mixed with lemonade… not cool. Then I let it sit for an hour, which is a long time since I had no cell phone and only 3-month old magazines to look at. The Cat scan took 20 minutes, but it’s a huge machine that’s pretty noisy. And once again, it was time to wait…

“Ok, the results are back, and you are going to need surgery today. I think that it will be around 5:00 or 5:30. Any questions?” asks some guy that I had never seen before. (The surgeon)

“Yeah, can I call my family?”

“Sure! There’s a phone right there, dial nine first.”

It’s a difficult conversation when you tell your mom that you’re going into surgery. (Especially when she is 10 hours away. ) She told me to call her back in 10 minutes after she thought about it. When I finally did call her back, she had gone into emergency-mom mode: “I have a flight out at 7:00, so I will get there around 9:00. When are you having surgery? Have you called any friends? Is the surgeon nice? Wait! What hospital are you at?!” My mom loves me.

Pre-op was hilarious! I don’t know much of my medical history by heart, so I scared the hell out of the Surgeon and the Anesthesiologist. It went something like this:

“Is there anything wrong with you that I should know about before you go into surgery?” asked the surgeon happily.

“Yep, something with my kidneys.”

“What exactly?” he asked. (Not so happily.)

“I don’t know.”

“History of heart problems in your family?”

“Yep. My mom, Aunt, and Grandma all had open-heart surgery.”

“For what?!” (He was getting nervous.)

“I don’t know.”

“Was it a valve operation?”

“Ooh, YEAH! That’s it.”

“Which valves? Aortal or mitral?”

“Mitral!… I think.”

“OK! Let me listen to your heart….. Ok, you have a heart murmur, but doesn’t sound too serious.” His voice was getting pretty high at this point.

“Oh, that’s right, I have ‘trivial leakage’ or something like that.”

“Anything else?!” (I don’t want to be a surgeon, they’re too stressed.)

“I don’t know.”

(Repeat all of the questions and responses for the Anesthesiologist. He was stressed too! Go figure.)

The last person that talked to me before surgery was the Anesthesiologist:

“You will wake up at 9:30 tonight or tomorrow morning,” he said with a thick Indian accent.

“Sure!” I said, “sounds good.”

“That was a question.” (Akward…)

“Oh, sorry. Tonight sounds great.”

I woke up and my mom was there, and I realized that I had gotten through the whole thing on my own. Whoa! I survived an Appendectomy. Sweet! I got to spend a few days in the hospital with some excellent pain killers. I apparently told a few nurses what my occupation was (STUD remember?), but I have no dates to show for it.

The whole hospital visit was pretty sweet, and bonus: chicks dig scars. (I have a shirt that says so anyways.)

But I still hate 7:30’s. Who’s idea was a 7:30 class, seriously?