Pendy Why So Angry??!

So before I begin this story, I must tell you two of my bigger fears in life:

1. Having one of those diseases where you just think it's normal flu symptoms etc etc, but then it ends up being something that untreated can kill you in a matter of days.
2. Having to have emergency surgery in China

I think most people can relate to number 1, especially after watching a movie like Outbreak. And anyone whose has had to go into a Chinese hospital knows that (especially compared to American hospitals where people are like OCD about them being clean) they're not the cleanest of places.

So, with the stage set: enter Angry Pendy.
The night before Halloween, I went to sleep feeling GREAT (Tony the Tiger Grrreat). Well, by 3am, I had been woken up by an incredible pain in my abdomen. I tried sleeping on my back, on my side, I went to the bathroom, I tried sleeping on my couch, on the floor, back up to my bed. By 7am the pain hadn't subsided for one second (even in my dreams I was trying to figure out how to get rid of the pain), it had also moved down to the right side of my abdomen, and I decided that something was really wrong. My roomate googled "abdominal pain", and she went through the symptoms of each. "Do you have this?" "No." "This?" "No." "This?" "Yes." "This?" "No." "This?" "Yes,.... yes.....yes." :( All things pointed to Appendicitis.

After a call to my boss's wife, and a call by one of her Chinese friends to other Chinese friends, and a call by me to a fellow teacher who had also had appendicitis in China (and had a considerably worse experience), we decided on which hospital I should go to..... by taxi :)

Interesting Discovery #1: Apparently in China, hospitals are split up a bit more by what kind of care they give, and what kinds of things they treat... unlike hospitals in the States where–save very specific specialties–they are prepared to treat everything.

So, I went to the hospital with Regina (boss's wife) and Alice (another Kindie teacher who's Chinese, and also speaks English). They did this test and that test and Declared.... That I must have surgery. But they did it so passively that I looked at Alice and said... are they sure? When Jenny (another friend who spoke fluent Chinese) came, she pressed the doctors on how sure they were that I REALLY needed surgery, to which they apparently exclaimed.... "It's about to pop! yes, she needs surgery! Don't worry about how I know, I'm the doctor, let me worry about it." To which she said, "well.. WHAT are you waiting for???"

So, very soon I was placed in a wheel chair (which was weird because I could walk) and wheeled up to the 12th floor VIP/International wing. I got a very nice hospital room, and then I waited, and waited, and Jenny kept pressing them saying.... she needs to get in quickly! and they'd say... I know I know, don't worry, she's on the emergency list, and as soon as XY and Z surgeries are done, she'll go in. In the meantime I signed at least 8 forms, all in Chinese of course, that pretty much provided for any number of things to change or go wrong. One was for just plain old laproscopic surgery, one was in case that wasn't enough and they had to make an incision, one for if they got inside and found out that it wasn't appendicitis but was instead a tumor, and another and another.... I imagined that some said "if I have a healthy extra kidney you can have it, and any other organs you might need for that matter." So after many more pressings of the doctor by Jenny, and many of my signatures on unknown Chinese medical forms, the doctor came in with a gerny and said "it's time" (but in Chinese of course).

So, I was strapped to a green gurney... quite well (i'm talking heavy blanket and three 5-inch thick pieces of velcro), and I was wheeled through the hospital, the whole time having scenes from Scrubs (the only hospital comedy or drama I watch) running through my head, and thinking... so this is what it's like to be strapped to a gurney and wheeled through a hospital. All I could see were the ceiling lights (but in my head I could see all the Chinese people staring at the mei guo ren who was being paraded through the passageways.) When we reached the doors to the surgery wing, Jenny and Regina had to stay outside, and then I was alone with the doctors and nurses—most of whom didn't speak any English. As I lay in the middle of the surgery room–which was quite large, and actually had quite a few people standing around waiting and laughing, and every once in a while saying "lao wei" (which means foreigner) excitedly. Yes, I thought, you get to operate on a white person today. Have fun, but do a good job!

As they got everything ready around me, and hooked me up to an IV and put little suction things around my heart to make sure it was beating, the anesthesiologist came up and was one of the few people who could speak some English. She asked me if I had had anesthesia before, and then, just before she put the mask over my mouth to put me under she said... "You just...have to... trust us." I smiled and said a short prayer.

When I woke up (the first time I remember being awake anyway... as opposed to how Regina said I was "awake" and mumbling as they wheeled me out of the surgical room) I felt like I had had a really good nights sleep. I had missed all the "fun" of sugery, and I didn't even get to see Pendy before they took him off to the lab for testing.

Apparently in Chinese hospitals if they remove an organ a family member has to verify that they removed the correct organ.

This meant that while I was still "in surgery" one of the doctors came out into the hall to talk to Jenny. She came over thinking that he had to tell her something about how my surgery was going... suddenly the doctor flung a tray in front of her face.... with my appendix on it! She screamed and called Regina over whilst hiding her face—I'm sure the image of my appendix isn't what she wanted burned into her brain.

My surgery and recovery have seemed to go off without a hitch. They said my appendix on the scale of good to Pop-happy was about a medium-pop. They were able to do everything they needed to do with just the laproscopic surgery, but at the same time, there was quite a bit of "contamination" that they had to clean up... and they thought that if I had had to wait even a few more hours it would have ruptured.

So, this brings me back to the two fears that I voiced at the beginning, and how because of the fact that I a) knew that something was wrong wrong.... wrong enough to go to the hospital wrong, and didn't just brush off the pain with a few meds and b) that my experience of having surgery (like I said I don't like surgeries..well.. who does...and I don't like hospitals) and how well it went... I have to thank God for his protection over me throughout the whole process, and also for the amazing caring friends He put around me the whole time (I had uber visitors, and my wonderful roomie even stayed the night at the hospital with me on the couch in my room for the weekend!)

I know that my parents (especially my mom) felt really terrible that I had to be in a hospital, in China, and that they couldn't be there with me... and while there's no one quite like a mother (and a father) when you're sick, God made sure that I had the second best---many friends and other mother types and people to make me fresh soup.. yummmm!

So now I'm out... and Brian (the guy that I coach Basketball with) has even allowed me to start playing a bit during our practices... haha. After 3-weeks I kept telling him it was ok... my holes were healed, it was good for me... but he made the girls vote about weather I should be allowed to play or not.. and they voted no, and he smiled and said.. maybe next time.. .it's for your own good. HA!

Alright, that's all for now. The-Space-Formerly-Known-As-Pendy says that he wants to share his side of the story... so maybe i'll let him post it on the blog later. :)

Here is a picture of me with Wilbur the IV. After him following me to the bathroom multiple times, I decided that we should be on a first name basis. He was fun for a while, but then he just got plain mean... always poking me with needles, never coming just to hang out.
Some of my first visitors: (this is my room before my new roomie moved in)

Yes, my mismatched hospital top is on backwards. They made me change it before surgery, and weaving my IV through one sleeve and out the other was hard enough to do once, let alone a second time after surgery. So I just left it the way it was.. the height of steeelo!