Completely Blindsided

Normal, happy family gathering, right? Got your ice cream cake, got your crazy faced little boy, smiling grandfather. All's sailing along smoothly in our little world.

Looking at that photo, you'd never guess that the person who took it was in imminent danger. By nine o'clock that night, I was in agonizing pain. By midnight I was writhing on the bathroom floor. By one, I was actually begging Scott to take me to the ER. And less than 24 hours after this photo was taken, I was in surgery.

Turns out, I had acute appendicitis. Really nasty case, too. I ended up out from work for two full weeks. I had never had surgery before and it scared the life out of me - not to mention a few years off Scott's life. Mom even came down to take care of me for the first week. Everyone was very supportive, and I got help, gifts and cards from everywhere. My surgeon was wonderful (which, I guess everyone would say who survived an emergency operation, but he was very nice) and the hospital people were great.

But that doesn't discount that it was quite probably the most frightening moments of my life lying in the pre-op room on April 7th holding Scotty's hand, reciting the 23rd Psalm over and over.

Also, for the record - I DO NOT like drugs!!! I had some seriously scary reactions to more than one of the drugs they pumped me full of - just before surgery, I felt like my heart and lungs stopped when one of the drugs kicked in. Not nice. Not nice at all!

Anyway, by the grace of God and the skill of the doctors, here I sit, typing. Most people don't think of appendicitis as life-threatening, but it sure as heck can be, and I'm so grateful to be here with my family - even the crazy faced boy.