She didn’t need it anyway.

Yesterday Heather’s stomach hurt, it hurt pretty bad she said. This morning it hurt even more. It hurt so much she called me to tell me she wasn’t going to class and to take notes for her. Between my classes I called her and she told me she had called a nurse and the nurse advised that heather see a doctor. Heather’s mom left work and picked her up from her room to take her to see a doc.

I called again after my classes to find out the doctor advised that she go to the emergency room, she could have appendicitis. I packed my things and met her and her mom in room 3 of the emergency wing. They took some tests and an ultrasound to rule out other possibilities. They determined she had “free fluids” and a high white-blood cell count, both indicators of appendicitis. They prescribed immediate surgery to remove the fluids and to remove the appendix if it really was appendicitis. Heather lay on the bed in the room 3 in excruciating pain for three hours before they finally wheeled her out to the OR. None of us had eaten in nine hours and the long wait made us all a little cranky by the time they finally wheeled her upstairs.

They inserted the IV and explained the procedure to her. They ushered us out and told us to wait some more. It was only 45 minutes before her surgeon Dr. Au (pronounced Dr. Ow.) came out and informed us she did indeed have appendicitis and her appendix was removed and there were no complications with the surgery. Ten minutes later we were able to visit Heather, who was especially chipper from the exorbitant amount of drugs in her system. She greeted us all and informed us of how nice all the people were and how much better she felt. We got to see her appendix in a jar, which looked something like a cross between an index finger and a sausage. And Heather showed us all her three little cuts (well, all we really saw were three bandages) on her stomach.

Minutes later Heather drifted asleep with a drugged smile on her face and tubes and cords attached to everything. Her dad and I left while her mom stayed there. We will return tomorrow at nine to accompany her as she will be discharged from the hospital.

I’m sure Heather would love a “get-well” message from you. If you want to tell her nice things, please e-mail her at hturchin@u.washington.edu .