I sat next to one of my favorite people and started taking in the room around me. Then it happened. I was a little uncomfortable at first. I started sweating then turned green. The smells of coffee were overpowering. Then I noticed that my comfy pair of pants went from fitting perfectly to way too tight in the matter of minutes. Within minutes, I was nauseous.
I excused myself from the meeting and did what any other GenXer would do, I Googled my symptoms. (It’s funny that I had to Google while sitting in Google.) BOOM… there it was. I’m pregnant.
You know how it is. You drop her off at the airport. It’s a short trip. She’s been texting consistently since she got off the plane in NYC. You wish her luck before she heads into her big meeting the next day and don’t expect to hear back from her for hours. And then it hits…
“Babe, I don’t feel good.” She tells you about the stomach pain. She tells you about the nausea. She tells you about how she’s going to take all the coffee out of the room. She tells you she thinks she’s pregnant… Wait. Really?? You had to go to NYC to find out your pregnant? Things are going to be different now.
A few hours later and a few tests down, the doctor comes in and tells us the news. My appendix burst.
I guess he could read my face and let me ask the only question I could think of. “Don’t you die if your appendix bursts?” He assured me that I was not dead and would recover from this. Since I waited a week and a half before seeking treatment, I would need to be treated in the hospital for a few days to fight the infection. I would need to schedule a future surgery a few weeks after recovering from the infection.
It’s that moment when it hits me…
- HOW AM I GOING TO DO THIS?
- We are in a new city where we know no one.
- We have three dogs who need to be walked and fed.
- If I need surgery, what is recovery going to be like?
- How long will I be in the hospital?
- Can my husband take off work as we just moved here for him to start the new job?
- When am I going to be home from the hospital?
- Will insurance cover this?
- How do I tell my boss that I need time off (without knowing how long exactly)?
- Who is going to take care of the stuff around the house that had to get done?
- What in the world am I going to do for a few days while sitting in the hospital?
- Am I going to be alone at night in the hospital?
- Will I have a private room?
- What do I need to do in order to be released?
- HOW AM I GOING TO DO THIS?