(Not so) Good Friday

For the last 3 years for Lent, I’ve given up alcohol. A, ahem, sobering experience, that I’ve actually begun to look forward to, seeing as how much of a change of pace it usually is for my normal life. This year however, due to my extensive travel schedule, I was totally unaware that it was Ash Wednesday, i wanna say i was in KL? Not even sure.

So being the natural guilty Catholic that I am, pretty much assumed my lack of abstenance this year was causing some extreme stomach pains I was having on Good Friday last week. (Ok, i really didn’t make that correlation, but it did cross my mind.)

Michelle came over to bring me some meds, and after that still didn’t subside the pain, Mom & Dad swooped in for DevCon 2: the minor emergency clinic. They pretty much had to drag me there, as I was paranoid that I’d get there, they’d tell me it was gas, and send me embarrassingly on my way. Well, thank God for the ‘rents, because it wasn’t gas, or food poisoning, or Catholic guilt.

Yepper, it was my appendix. That little evolutionary organ that serves us no purpose at all, but to randomly become inflamed and infected. Awesome.

So after a cat scan and confirmation of the diagnosis from the Doc, I was put on an ambulance and admitted into St. Luke’s. It’s pretty much a blur after that. Surgery was first thing in the morning. Mom and dad had gone home to get some sleep, and thankfully Matthew came to stay with me during the night, because when the dr. arrived in the morning, they sent me straight to surgery.

The next 2 days were a fuzzy blend of friends, flowers, story time, banana pudding, jello, and pain meds.

As I was preparing for release on Sunday, we received some more bad news. My Aunt Theresa, my dad’s sister, and my Godmother, passed away Easter morning. She joins my aunt Beverly and my Paw Paw (both who also passed away on Easter) who are all resting peacefully now. thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. The funeral will be later this week. For those of you who didn’t know my Aunt Theresa, her husband was Henry Fry, creator of Fry Surf Boards. They lived in Costa Rica for 5 years where he had a shaping shop. He was somewhat of a star in the surfing world. And she was her happiest there in Costa Rica.

It’s been a rough few days, and all of your love and thoughts have definitely helped me through it.

Big thanks to Mom & Dad for always being there when I need them. To Michelle for continuing to be my partner in crime thoughout this; to Matt for covering the night shift and reading to me, even when I’m not supposed to be laughing; to Lindsay, Misty, Taneka, Shekara, Kasey, Jaime, Stefanie, my sister and Matt and the boys, for the visits, flowers, pudding, magazines, and DVDs! We needed a small truck to unload everything.

And thanks to all the twitterati for all your thoughts and prayers. At one point Matt exclaimed, “your replies cover all of page 2!” (I think he was jealous—but it made me feel great )

I truly am blessed to have a most excellent support system in my life, and I can’t tell you another time that has been more evident than these last few days.

Tags: appendix, awesome friends, health, hospital, surgery