A Pesky Appendix

At the beginning of July Seth had an emergency appendectomy and since this is the first time he had his appendix removed, I thought I'd write about it. Perhaps, you'll find it interesting, horrifying, or downright exciting and you too, will decide to get your appendix removed.
One Sunday, Seth came home from work in quite a bit of pain. We weren't sure if it was something he ate (there are some pretty intense digestional bugs whose effects for all of our sake's I'd rather not detail- though if you're interested I'd recommend going to a developing country and take a swig of the local water, then you can write all about it from the closest outhouse- pending it has WiFi) but as his pain continued intensely throughout the night, the next morning we decided it was probably best for him to go to the hospital.
The hospital closest to our house is about a 5 minute drive away. It was opened up this past year and is operated by Egyptians. It is probably the best equipped facility in the country (although this doesn't necessarily indicate much). Seth went in, they ran some tests, and said they were suspecting appendicitis and recommended he had an appendectomy. They said they could do the surgery at the hospital or he could travel to a nearby country with better facilities. Seth came home from the hospital, we did a little research, and talked and prayed it over. It wasn't an easy decision, he was still in a lot of pain, and we knew didn't have time on our side. Later that afternoon we decided to just have it done at the local hospital. I drove him back to the hospital around 5 that afternoon and found out the surgeon wasn't going to be in until 9PM. So, we waited and waited in one of the emergency rooms, while Atira greeted everyone she could find to greet. Eden and Isaaq stayed back at the house with a young Swiss guy who has been helping out at the office the past month. Needless to say they were delighted to get to hang out with him for a while. We were very grateful for his servant heart to help us out. I later, took Atira back to our house to put her to bed. Afterward I headed back to the hospital so I could be there for the surgery. They finally took him in to start getting him ready for surgery around 11PM. About this time they told me that the cost of the surgery was going to be higher than what they'd originally told us (you have to pay for expenses upfront), and from what I understood, they wouldn't start the surgery until the doctor had seen the receipt. So, I headed back to our house again, to get more money. When I got back to the hospital, I found out they'd already started the surgery (which I was glad for) and finished the surgery around 1AM. The operating doctor came out and said the surgery had been successful and they were very pleased with how it went. About 20 minutes later they wheeled Seth out, who greeted me and said he had been awake the whole time, which was mildly disappointing to me as I couldn't wait to hear all the crazy things sedated hubby would say. Maybe another time wifey.
We then went up to his recovery room. Seth continued to be in a lot of pain. The doctors had described his appendix as 'septic' and 'gangerenous' they actually even gave us the appendix and set it on the small table next to his bed. From what I know about appendixes (which is very little) a healthy one might be about the size of a finger. Seth's was much larger, about the size of three of my fingers. And, it was blackish, not a healthy pink. I took a picture of it.
Since we live in a communal culture here, the hospital operates in the same way- with a reliance on the understanding that you are never alone, someone(s) is always with you, staying with you, helping out as needed. So, after arriving in his room, the doctor (or nurse) gave me a prescription, a list of all the things he would need over the next night, including IV drips, pain killers, medicines, bandages, etc. I went down to the pharmacy, purchased the items, and gave them to the nurses.  And, all of this is around 2:30AM. Ugh. Seth and I talked for a bit about how the surgery went. He shared with me that he'd been able to feel almost everything, and wondered if the spinal hadn't been placed properly. He said he'd been in a lot of pain throughout the surgery. Not good. Around 3 AM he was finally feeling comfortable enough to get some sleep. So, I pulled up a mat next to his bed, and we got some sleep. Around 5:30AM, I was up to go back home, to see the kids, so our friend could go to the office. They, of course were disappointed to see me (except Atira who had no clue of what had transpired the night before. Eden and Isaaq were a little bit happier once they found out I was going to put on a movie for them to watch so I could get a bit more sleep (which was slightly- but not really realistic considering they're 6,4, and 2, and obviously the 2 year old still has much learning to do about social graces and general rules for interacting with others (like not sitting on your brother's head) and letting your mommy sleep. I was thankful to have our house helper around who took care of things around our house and kept everything looking clean in the midst of our craziness.
I talked to Seth later that morning, they said he could start having clear liquids. So, after our lunch, I made up some soup, and brought the soup and our kids down to the hospital so Seth could eat (families are expected to provide meals for those in the hospital) and see the kids. Everyone was happy to see each other. Then, after some time I piled up the crew and we headed back to our house. Later on that evening, after I put the kids to bed, I headed back to the hospital (so thankful for Jonathan's willingness to hang out at our house while I was gone), with more food.
It was nice to see Seth, he was feeling a lot better and was getting ornery enough again to start pestering the doctors to let him go home that night (not successful). His abdomen was still feeling pretty tender, of course, but feeling a lot better than he did before the surgery. Pesky appendix. I checked in with the nurses, purchased the items he would need for the night and headed home around 11PM.
He was released the next day. It was good to have everyone back home again, for Seth to be feeling better; we were all eager to put the whole ordeal behind us. Thankfully he is healing up well. It took us all some time to recover from the stress of the situation and heal. I was telling Seth just last week that I felt like I was just finally recovering from all the craziness and the stress. It was a really hard time, it was hard to see Seth in so much pain, it was hard to juggle all the responsibilities and navigating a foreign (still familiar) culture.
All in all, we're able to see a lot of ways the Lord blessed us through this crazy time and provided for our every need. We're thankful to Him.
And, we're just glad to have that pesky appendix- GONE!