July 4th, 2009. I woke up at around 9:30 in the morning with a terrible pain in my lower right abdomen. I'm thinking it's a result of the Mexican food and overspiced homemade pizza I ate the night before, so I went to the bathroom and went back to bed.

I woke up again shortly after. The pain had not gone away. It was excruciating. I began to think it was appendicitis, but figured that if it was appendicitis, I would be on the floor, in too much pain to even stand up. My brother told me that hopefully, it was just that I'd slept wrong on my side. I semi-dismissed it as that, constantly worrying that it might have been something more serious.

A little later on, we went down to the local retirement home, where my grandmother lives now that her husband (the one from my previous journal) is gone. My side pain was the talk of the poolside (there weren't many people around the pool that weren't family or friends of the family, though...old people really don't seem to like swimming). Getting into the pool seemed to make my side feel a little better, though not much. I also got a slight sunburn, raising my body temperature a little. After a little while, I got out of the pool, dried off, got dressed, and headed for the bathroom. Making a note of the results, I began to think that I had an impacted bowel. The rest of the family got ready, and we all left.

Next, we went over to my sister's house to barbecue. By now, the pain was becoming unbearable. I was grunting and moaning with each step I took. I look a laxative to see if that would help, but it never took effect. I ate a small dinner, and went to lie down in my nephew's bed until it was time to eat ice cream. None of this was doing my side any good. My mother, brother, and I had to duck out a little early because I was in so much pain.

As soon as I got home, I slipped into bed. The pain dulled greatly--which says a lot for the memory foam that my mattress topper is made out of! I laid in bed with my eyes closed and the TV on for 4 1/2-5 hours, unable to get to sleep...not because of the TV, but because I was feverish. I decided I'd had enough, because I wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon, and I told my brother (who stays up all night anyway) that I wanted to go to the ER. He woke my mother up (to a start, not surprisingly...I think she's a little too jumpy) and told her. It took her about 20-30 minutes to get ready, but we finally made our way down to the ER.

Yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah, they found out that it was, in fact, appendicitis, no doubt about it. Cue my very first real surgery, and the longest and most painful 24 hours of my life. The day I was supposed to go home, the doctor told me he may have to keep me for another night, because I met all the criteria to go home EXCEPT to lose the fever! So I spent the next several hours walking around the 4th floor of the hospital trying to bring down my fever. That did the trick long enough to allow me to go home, after all...

I'm glad to be home, sore as I may still be (but it's nowhere near as bad as the appenditis was!). I have a follow-up appointment in about two weeks to have the stitches removed. Hopefully by then, I'll be as good as new.