Truth Part 2

Around 5pm the doctor came and told me that I needed surgery. What he actually said was that the CT confirmed the problem was with my appendix and that generally required surgery. They didn’t have a surgeon at the Grace so they were going to transfer me to another hospital. I took that to mean I was having surgery that evening. If they weren’t pretty sure I needed surgery they wouldn’t go to the effort. Somehow the doctor’s attitude about the surgery made me feel pretty calm.

The nurse hadn’t been able to reach anyone. We held off on calling others until I found out where I was going. Then the nurse came back and said it looked like I was going to St. Boniface hospital. Within moments the paramedics were there. The nurse wheeled my bed over to the phone so I could leave a message for my friend. She dialed the number and handed me the handset. When I couldn’t reach to put the phone back on the cradle the paramedic helped me.

As I was being wheeled out of the room the nurse who had been so helpful asked me if there was anyone else I she could call for me. I asked her to call my pastor for me. I had begun to realize that if I was going to need surgery I couldn’t continue to go through this on my own.

I realize that was the time things turned from feeling sick to being really traumatic. I was wheeled into an ambulance. All of a sudden things seemed to be happening fast. I needed surgery. There was no time to adjust to the idea. No time to prepare. I was not going to be able to meet my obligations. As I was in the ambulance I realized I was missing my appointment to get my hair cut. I felt terrible that my hair stylist was going to be waiting for me during an appointment she could fill with someone else. I was supposed to be going to a conference that weekend. Work was busy and I was at a critical stage of a project. All of that was very important and not at all important at the same time.