A Naughty Meme with Appendicitis
Sunday morning she took some ibuprofen and the pain subsided/shifted. It changed from a general pain throughout her abdomen and back, to a focused pain just above her right hip. She was able to make it through church without too much discomfort, where she talked to Matt and Laurie. They were concerned. Meme planned to drive to Maryland to visit with friends then have Bible study luncheon on Tuesday, and … she went ahead with her plan even with her pain. Matt and Laurie was somewhat appeased knowing that Meme would be with Tom and Lynne, except that she wouldn’t because we were camping.
Meme made it to our house and Matt and Laurie followed up with her and Laurie did an evaluation on the patient. Her diagnosis was appendicitis and she encouraged Meme to go to the hospital right away. Mom called her doctor to get their input.
In the mean time Matt decided he should call me and let me know what was up. The call at 11:15pm did not go through, so he texted me. Lynne and I had just gone to bed in our tent. Lynne had a rough sleep the night before so I gave her an ibuprofen PM to help. She was snoozing immediately but I checked my phone before drifting off and saw his text. Already in my iron man jammies and zipped up in the tent, I texted him back and got the reply “It’s Mom.“ I sprang from my cot and quietly unzipped myself to freedom and dialed my brother. We talked for a while and then I wandered aimlessly in our quiet campsite trying to decide what to do.
I decided pretty quickly that we would at least leave early the next morning, and so I started packing our gear at midnight. I was sneaking all around two RVs, one pop up, and a tent trying not to wake anyone. It is not quite dragging a cooler over gravel! Next I decided I could never get to sleep thinking about my mother so I decided to leave. So I tried to get my gear out of our tent which went much better than expected and suddenly my side of the tent was clear save my cot. In all of it Lynne did not wake up.
I must have spent the next fifteen minutes just agonizing over whether I should wake Lynne more aggressively or let her sleep. Finally, I decided I should leave since she was so soundly sleeping, and I did. Then, a mile away I un-did. I turned around and drove back thinking she would want to wake up. Back in the tent, I began tapping on her arm and saying her name to no avail. I gave up, grabbed the cot, and left again around 1:30am.
I got home about 3:00am well caffeinated, and saw the lights on in Mom’s room. She was surprised to see me! She decided she should go get checked out, and we headed to the hospital ER. Like any ER it was slow, but once she saw a doctor he was pretty sure it was appendicitis, and he ordered a CAT Scan to confirm. Tick tock tick tock and then she was scheduled for surgery that day, as soon as they could fit her in.
Meanwhile Lynne woke up to pee… There was no Tom, no cot, no gear. Out side the tent there was not even a car. She was understandably confused. "Where was he? Had he gone to get coffee?" No, Siri let her know that I was in Annapolis! With my mother? At the hospital? So she checked her messages and got the story. Then she announced to our fellow campers that her “husband had left her. “ Fortunately, the Gallahers took her in and brought her home.
Meanwhile I was feverishly texting everyone that loved Meme to let them know what was going on. Oh wait, what about so and so? and... and... So many people. So many text chains.
The doctor, who had been doing this surgery for 31 years, was awesome. He told me about many of the tools and techniques they would use in vibrant detail. I loved it. How he ended up working on Memorial Day, I don’t know, but I’m glad he did. The anesthesiologist came by and was wonderful in her care. Meme went into surgery about 12:15 pm and emerged about 1:45 pm. The doctor emerged from the OR into the waiting room with eye candy, pictures from inside Meme. He described all the details of each one and I hung on every word he said.
Finally meme woke up and I could go in to see her. She looked pretty good and already felt relief. The nurses were taking great care of her and got her all ready then pushed her down to the car. All the staff were great. Writing this three days later, I realize that Meme might not be with us today without their efforts. We left at about 2pm, me having been awake about 31 hours.
Meme was recovering well and walked about 1/4 mile that evening. We settled down to watch some When Calls the Heart. We were so thankful that Matt and Laurie figured out what was going on, I was able to get Meme to the hospital and the doctors and nurses took great care of her. God was watching over her.
In spite of all the challenges, it was a beautiful time of many people, family, friends and medical staff, rallying around a wonderful Saint of God to help her in her time of need, repaying only a smidgen of the love she has given us. And of course it was an opportunity for trading time for memories.
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