This is something I hesitated to post about, because I initially felt it too personal. But it is increasingly on my mind, and what I do here is unload my brain. I am also encouraged by the genuine care, interest, and prayers that I have seen offered by "strangers" to other bloggers who were having a rough time. Everyday that passes since I started this blog makes the people who stop by and the writers of the blogs I read seem less like anonymous strangers miles away, and more like real friends.

I am going to post it in two parts (because it is a long story and both exhausting for me to write and probably boring for you to read all at once...despite my colorful pyrotechnics with toast)...today, you get part one.

Early in March, I began to have some abdomen pain one Thursday evening. I had just eaten some very rich and buttery shrimp scampi, so my first thought was "indigestion". It was not cramping, there was no nausea, and it felt nothing like heartburn. It was high in my belly, right below my rib cage and above my belly-button. I did feel sort of bloated though. I went to bed, hoping that in the morning it would be gone and forgotten. Not the case. I awoke somewhere between 2:30 and 3:00 AM...the pain was bad. I could not get comfortable, and could not find deep sleep. Around 4:00 AM, I woke Chad. I now thought maybe it was gas or something. He, being the amazingly sweet man that he is, drove to Meijer's to get me some gas relief pills. I took two and managed to sleep a bit more...but they didn't really help. In the morning I took another one. I was still having the same pain; I was able to move around enough to take a shower. I decided to go to my doctor at 1:00. Chad got the day off work, so he could take me.

By now, the pain had traveled to general all over abdominal pain, with a sharp pain when touched localized on the lower right. Then it dawned on me that it could be a ovarian cyst that ruptured. I had been diagnosed with that years before, and they had said then that there were other smaller cysts present. The doctor didn't listen to me tell her that I had been to the ER in 2002 with a ruptured ovarian cyst, and instead focused on a previous stomach acid reflux problem which she had addressed in 2005. She sent me home with some Prevacid to take every morning and told me not to eat anything spicy and to avoid caffeine and not to take any aspirin or Motrin. She explained away my questions about the "traveling" pain now on the lower right next to my hip bone as a stomach bug going though my digestive tract. She was pretty sure it wasn't my appendix, but told me to keep an eye out for some symptoms. Even that's not too re-assuring now, in retrospect.

Friday night, I started throwing up, and couldn't even keep dry toast down. (FYI, toast tastes pretty much the same coming up as it did when you ate it less than 5 minutes ago.) By Saturday, I was feeling worse...but stopped vomiting. I'm sure it wasn't the flu or anything like that. Chad called a friend of mine to come stay with me so that he could go to work. I started running a fever and didn't get out of bed all day. Sunday was about the same, but my temperature started coming down. My friend started to worry about a tubal pregnancy, but I was pretty sure my doctor tested for that, because they did take a urine sample and draw my blood. I also did a home pregnancy test to be sure. After Sunday, I started to improve and gained my strength back. I kept taking the Prevacid.

Oh, but that was not the end of it. More to come. I bet you are all on the edges of your seats...

P.S. For now, it is Nyquil and bed. My loving, wonderful husband, sharing and caring guy that he is, gave me his cold.