Part 1: http://teresakgoodwin.tumblr.com/post/6080151259/scrubs-part-1-saturday-night
Part 2: http://teresakgoodwin.tumblr.com/post/6084863890/er-where-is-george-clooney-part-2
First off the title is funny to me because while in the ER at some point Elliott and I had a discussion about whether or not the “an” is required in front of appendicitis. I think he is probably right and it isn’t but for the sake of humoring myself it is staying.
Dr. Ego pants decided that I did indeed have some new signs, now that he looked in the right place, of an appendicitis and sent me back to get another ultrasound this time of more of my abdominal area not just of my non existent gall stones. We waited for that “transport” as they call in the biz for 1 hour. I honestly didn’t think they had it in them to take that long. And the ultrasound wing is dead as door nail, no one else is to be seen or found its like a bad horror movie so what in the heck took so long I have no idea.
In the mean time at least we did have some entertainment. I believe by that point although it could have been later they brought in a very large, scary man. As he was wheeled past Elliott said his face looked pretty swollen. He was accompanied by a few police men. We heard several interesting exchanges between him, the nurses, the policemen and security guards while he was present. I know that they restrained him. That he used to be a body builder. And I am pretty sure he told them he didn’t know when his birthday was. Between this gentlemen and the nurses also told me they also expected to be busy with patients over doing it on Memorial Day weekend who are on dialysis, I was a little mad that this is what backed up the system and slowed me down from getting a speedy diagnosis. Oh and a nurse talked about telling a woman who had diabetes and was being treated that she shouldn’t drink the iced tea from McDonald’s her boyfriend brought her that had 50 plus grams of sugar, comical but so true. All I wanted was a doctor who would listen to the fact that I threw up all night and was in pain and not send me home to stretch my round ligament. Even reading that link now I am mad the doc thought that’s what I had, really, really doctor.
Anyway we had our second ultrasound, finally, and the radiologist was surprised we were back to look at the appendix. He said where is your pain and when I showed him he seemed surprised it was so low, I know I didn’t point up higher earlier as the pain hadn’t moved. He looked around, took some pics, and said very little. He eventually told us the baby was fine and looked great and that was it. I knew this was bad, as last time he told us I was gallstone free. He also was nicer and offered me some new warm blankets the only sweet blessing available in the ER is a blanket fresh out of the warmer. Everyone would eventually start to realize that I was really in pain, sick and needed help and became nicer and nicer.
Apparently though that wasn’t enough to get a quick ride to the hospital that would perform our surgery. We learned that we would indeed need to go to the right Alta Bates where they take care of pregnant women, and of course they weren’t just going to let Elliott take me the less than 3 miles I would have to wait for an ambulance, and “transfers” they told me could take awhile. In my case about 2 and half hours.
During the wait we did get to meet the surgeon, he came over from the other hospital to meet me, confirm the diagnosis and explain the risks. I absolutely loved my surgeon right from the start. He had the knowledge, bedside manner and experience that put me right at ease. He was very upfront about the risks and shared the percentages openly. He acknowledged that surgery while I was pregnant did have inherent risks and he wanted to be a sure as possible that I had an appendicitis before they opened me up. I guess that they can’t actually tell 100% from the ultrasound, he said a lot of the parts look similar especially while pregnant. And the only way to confirm is a CT scan which is more radiation then they want to put a pregnant lady through. He did the same push and let go maneuver asked more questions and we discussed the options more. He said that 1-2% of patients would have complications with the surgery rather it be bleeding or infection. He said that other than surgery they are trying a new method of fighting appendicitis with antibiotics although this isn’t yet common practice and it is believed to be 70 or 80% effective although that is up for debate. The down side of the potential rupture and the harm that could cause to me and the baby didn’t seem worth the risk to avoid surgery. He was very frustrated at how long he expected the transfer to take, he said he would do what he could and he would see us there.
Some nice gentlemen did finally come to give me a ride. I moved over to their gurney, they strapped me in, I felt a bit like the scary guy next door, and they rolled me out. Elliott asked the nurse where to meet me and she said they would take me straight to surgery, again I realized the significance of my issues. As they rolled me outside I was surprised to see it was still light out and the fresh air felt amazing after being inside a window less hole all day. By that point it was about 7pm. Just 10 hours after we first checked in and I had been sick for more than 24 hours by this point.
Elliott had left before they got me going so he could pay for parking and get to the hospital. The ride was bumpy and less than enjoyable in the ambulance. My escort was very nice though and was good at keeping me occupied with conversation. I told him our family secret one of the possible names if our baby is a girl, we aren’t planning to tell anyone our names, a trick I learned so that we get no feedback, good or bad and just decide the name on our own. Elliott even has his associated nickname picked out to go with our girl name, the boy name we are still working on and haven’t yet found. Just blocks from the hospital we passed our small little blue mini and I waived excitedly at Elliott through the porthole window in the back but he didn’t see me. I got to see the fresh air one more time before they wheeled me into the surgery prep area where I got to meet the yeller.
