Emergency rooms! Surgery! Hospital gowns! What fun!

Can you tell I had a really great week? Because I totally did. It's awesome. And so as to allay any fears or curiosity, I shall tell the whole story.

When Mike and I graduated, and BYU officially told us we were not insured on the student health plan, we just got temporary health insurance (the cheap kind) because we anticipated that if Mike got job in a hospital or something, he'd have benefits. Well, our timing was perfect.

Mike went to work like normal a week ago Tuesday, and was looking forward to helping with hoof-trimming the cows. Unfortunately, around noon he was desperately ill. He came home and spent the night in a ridiculous amount of pain. He got a blessing that said Katie and I wouldn't get sick, but that was the only comfort he had.

The next morning, Mike staggered to the top of the stairs and across the living room, only to collapse on the couch hugging a barf bag. I think that was the worst I have ever seen my husband. We decided he needed a doctor.

So we left Katie with my mom and I drove Mike to the ER. He did NOT enjoy the ride. Every bump made him cringe and it wasn't long before carsickness added to the fun. Oh, boy.

Luckily, abdominal pain is one of the big ones. When we got there and Mike said "it hurts here," pointing to his lower right abdomen, they were all over that and got him into a room really fast. A couple minutes later they gave him an IV (he was so dehydrated it was adding to his nausea) and a dose of morphine and zofran (the nausea medication they give to really sick pregnant ladies - me - and chemo patients). With all the drugs and fluid, he started getting kinda woozy and said "I feel good . . ." It was a lot funny.

The best part I think was that when my mom told my dad where we were, he skipped out of work to come be with us. See, my dad has the ability to calm down any situation. He's super easy-going and loves to schmooze (and I mean LOVES) so it was easy to relax and think of it as an adventure instead of a chance that my husband could DIE. And yes, I was thinking that until my dad showed up and started asking doctors if Mike would be able to watch any surgical procedures or get a DVD. Gross.

Anyhow, my mom still had Katie. And because the squirt isn't big into solid food yet, mom brought her to the hospital to eat. So while Mike was getting CAT scanned, I went out in the lobby and fed the Katie. While I was there, this lady came in clutching her throat and yelling about chemical wash. All the nurses and attendants seemed a little exasperated and called security. They ended up taking her into the hospital, but she was accompanied by a security guy and my dad heard them say something about that being her 19th visit. Can you say crazy? Yeah. I never want to work there.

Anyhow, when I got back (with a snack! yay!) the doctor told us that the scan said definitely appendicitis, but that his case was weird. He said usually you start feeling the pain first and then the nausea comes as your body goes into shock, but Mike started puking first and cramping later. Weird. Either way, it was super awesome because it was something they knew they could fix for sure, and that's what we wanted.

So they told us when the on-call surgeon was coming and the admitting nurse came in to get all of our information. She was funny. She was Romanian, but she also spoke English, French, Italian, and Spanish. It was cool. When my dad said something about the baby still being in the lobby, she got all excited and went out to see her as soon as Mike's (computerized) paperwork was done. It was cute.

We expected to have to wait for the surgery, since it's all about logistics, but they all-of-a-sudden told us they were taking him upstairs to pre-op. It was kind of frantic for me, let me tell you. But the pre-0p nurse was hilarious. She was this tiny old lady who was constantly talking and moving around, and you could tell she was the one in charge, because anybody who messed up her cupboards full of heated blankets or anything got a talking to. It was funny.

The surgeon and anesthesiologists and their respective assistants came in, and every single one asked the exact same questions (to me, not to Mike): what's his birthdate? Is he allergic to any medications? Has he had any surgeries before? How did he react to those? Luckily, I had heard him answer those ninety times before in the ER so I knew how to answer.

Soon enough, they plugged something into his IV, and the anesthetist and I watched him go under while the nurse was still chatting about her arthritic hand. They then shooed me out to the waiting room where I read a book for a couple hours, then took my overconfident husband home.

Yeah. We got to the hospital around noon and we were out by 8pm. I'm serious. My dad's STILL geeking out about it.

So, he had a weekend of Jello and movies because he couldn't move his abs at all, focus on anything because of his pain meds, or eat solid food without getting nauseous again. Luckily he started wearing daytime clothes again yesterday, and has left the house a couple of times. He came with us to the baseball game and Emma's band concert tonight, and hasn't started writhing in pain just yet. That's a good sign, I suppose. :)