Even More Stuff For The Kainers!!

It would be an understatement that say that 2009 has not been eventful for the Kainers. We now have something brand new and huge to add to our list of unexpected 2009 activities. On Monday afternoon, when I (Patrick) was at work, I started to feel some slightly sudden and partially severe pains in my belly. I have been experiencing multiple gastro-related symptoms for the last couple of years, so I am never shocked by any uneasy feelings that I may experience. The pains stuck around a bit, but I still felt good enough to go to the gym and try to swim a few laps in the pool. The pool was extremely crowded, so I just sat in the hot tub for a little while and then made my way towards the house.

When I took my first few bites at dinner, the pain came back and became much more unbearable. My doctor has been telling me to go straight to the Emergency Room if I ever experienced another "attack", as I have felt pains similar to this in the past. We packed up a few personal items, and drove towards the familiar St. Davids Hospital.

Naturally, we picked one of the busier nights at the ER to greet the staff with our presence. Multiple folks were wearing masks, so I immediately suspected swine flu was in our general vicinity, but luckily neither one of us have any symptoms of that. There was one slightly violent man experiencing a drug overdose and multiple other patients brought in by ambulance. One of our friends, Heather, is a paramedic and Kim saw her at the hospital when she dropped off a patient. She said that she dropped off several folks that night.

A few hours later my name is finally called and we get to wait in an actual patient room for approximately an hour before a doctor has a chance to come visit with us. Once the doctor arrives, he decides that an abdominal cat scan will be the best course of action, so I was wheeled into the cat scan room once the drug overdose patient was finished in there. About another hour passed and the doctor finally comes back into the room. He said the gallbladder looked fine (that is what we have been suspecting the issue to be); however, the appendix looked large and inflammed. The center of my pain was not where the appendix is actually located in our bodies, but he said it is not uncommon for the appendix to produce referred pain a little higher in the belly.

Come 3:00 AM, the hospital admits me into an overnight room. Kim heads home, takes a quick shower, lets the dogs out, and comes straight back to the hospital. By this time, the pain has worsened severely, and the nurses start treating me with morphine. I have never experienced morphine through an IV, so I was not ready for the feeling it creates as it enters your system. Although it provides pretty quick relief following the introduction into the IV, I temporarily felt like I was getting a lethal injection.

With the pain, mixed with morphine, regular staff visits to take vitals, and the fact that I was in a hospital bed, I managed about 1 hour of sleep on Monday night. The assigned surgeon came into the room mid morning on Tuesday and scheduled a 3 PM appendectomy. The surgery went well and I was rolled back into my room for recovery. Following the surgery, I was experiencing terrible pain in my shoulder of all places. The nurse was not sure what was going on, but treated me with strong pain medication once again. Finally, the surgeon stops in for one more visit before she goes home and informed me that they have to pump air into your body prior to the visit. The air collects in your diaphragm and refers to the shoulder. I am not sure how our nervous system works, but that sounds very strange to me. She said it would be gone within a few days, and I am barely even feeling it at all right now.

I then spent Tuesday night in the hospital as well. My good friend Larissa came to visit me, but all I really remember is saying hi and bye to her, so I slept while her and Kim talked. Per my request, and luckily without much opposition, Kim was willing to go sleep at home on Tuesday night. The last thing we need is for her to get sick too. She was an unbelievable help to me during the process and situations like this really make you realize how special your spouse really is. I would attempt to do for her as she did for me during this situation, but I do not believe I could ever be as amazing as she was.

I was scheduled for a release on Wednesday, but we had to wait until 5 PM before we were able to finally get out of there. My boss from my new job stopped in and dropped off some forms that would enable me to be provided paid time off, rather than taking unpaid time (I have only been at my job for a little over a month). It was quite a gesture and then a plant arrived from my new group at work. It was so wonderful to get home on Wednesday, although I was so sore, I could barely accomplish anything. Another set of great friends, Jeremy and Molly stopped in on Wednesday evening for a nice little visit. Luckily, I was able to talk to them a little more than I could for my other visitors.

So now it is Friday and I have been home for a couple of days now. My belly area is still black and blue, but most of the pains I was experiencing have subsided and I will just need a little more time to get better. We don't know if this surgery will make me all better or not, as only time will tell that. For now, if nothing more, it is so clear in my mind that I am surrounded by such awesome people and I will always recognize this. I am praying that I will simply be better after this surgery, but will not be discouraged if something else comes along.

In conclusion, for 2009, we have now experienced the loss of a precious grandparent, a major surgery, a minor surgery, a car accident, a job layoff, a brand new job, and a new job within the same company. All of this has happened in our first 9 months of marriage. I guess we cannot say that it has not been exciting so far!

That is all for now--hopefully the next blog will come much sooner and will be of a much better subject. Until then, have a great weekend!!