I arrived safely back on campus on Sunday evening. After unpacking all of my things, After meeting my new roommate, I talked to Kristin, Kim, Michelle, and Bekah, made plans for the following day (registration) and then headed for bed. Life was great.
Monday morning I woke up feeling fine. As I began getting ready to head up to Old Main to register I began having the most immense back pain. I tried to ignore the pain, but it hurt soo bad. After talking to Jarid & Mom on the phone, I was considering waiting until later in the afternoon to register. Instead of waiting, I determined that getting registration done early meant I could relax the rest of the afternoon. So, I forced myself to ignore the pain & went to registration at 8 am. I could not hide the pain I was in. I completed registration as quickly as possible, then headed back to my dorm room to sleep--after all, every time you are sick that's what your mom tells you to do, right? I could not sleep. Lying down only made the pain worse. At noon, Kat convinced me to go to the health center--it was closed until 1:30 pm. I groaned and asked her to have Jarid pick me up and take me to the health center again at 1:30. I went back to my room and tried to sleep--no luck. By 1:15 the pain was worse than before and I watched my cell phone count off the minutes until 1:30. Jarid was late, as usual. I waited for four minutes and then walked myself to the health center. I was tired of waiting in pain.
The school nurse, Mrs. Muse, was back in the health center when I arrived about twenty til one. I explained my pain to her and she sent me to the girls' beds in the basement of the building. She followed me down about five minutes later. She thought I had a kidney stone & wanted to take me to ER immediately. I called Mom & Jarid to let them know what was going on & headed to Watertown Hospital. After filling out of the medical history blah bla blah...I was taken to a room and Dr. Smith (no joke) came to check on me. He asked many of the same questions as Mrs. Muse, and like her believed that I had a kidney stone, but he wanted to take a CT scan to be sure. As I waited to be taken to get the CT scan, Jarid & Kat arrived and Mrs. Muse left. I was told after the CT scan that they did not find what they were looking for & that they needed to take a second CT scan. Before the second scan, Jarid & Kat had to leave to attend the special (required) services on campus, so my dorm supervisor, Hayley came to wait with me. The results of the second CT scan showed that I had internal bleeding in my lower abdomen and needed to have surgery ASAP. Most of the day I had been entirely calm. I joked with everybody & anticipated being back on campus later that evening, now I was slightly worried, but I still had fun (especially as 3 different nurses each tried twice to start a second IV--I was actually cheering them on: "Get that IV in there!!"). Hayley was working on making sure Jarid would be able to see me before I headed in for surgery. Five minutes before the nurses wheeled me out to the OR, Jarid & Dr. & Mrs. Brown came in to see me. The Browns prayed with me & I immediately felt the Lord's strength and knew that everything was in His hands. Kim, Kris Lloyd, Bekah, Michelle, & Sarah saw me in the hallway as I headed to surgery.The surgery was successful & I am thankful for the friends who came and visited me & the doctors and nurses who took special care of me. It was the first time in my life I have gone to the doctor without my mother. The surgery was on Monday evening (January 7) & I was back in classes on Thursday--I don't like staying off of my feet for too long. I am doing much better now, though I am still find myself getting tired as my body continues to heal. I have a back to school story unlike anybody else. From pain to the health center to the ER to the OR--yeah, I'd have to say that was a very exciting first day.
