At around 11:00 p.m., he left, as he had to go to work early the next morning. At this point, neither one of us had any idea what was wrong. I really hoped that the pain would go away during the night. At around 1:30 a.m., when I hadn't gotten any sleep, when I was in such excoriating pain that I couldn't leave the fetal position on my bathroom floor, and when I was nauseous and vomiting, I knew something was really wrong. I talked with my best friend Jesse and my mom around 2:00 a.m. and afterwards, managed to move from the bathroom floor to the middle of my bedroom floor, still in too much pain to stand up and move from the floor to my bed. At 2:30 a.m., I called Nick, letting him know that we needed to go to the Emergency Room. Miraculously, he woke up to my call (since this boy doesn't wake up to 6 alarms) and drove right over to go to the ER. We checked into the ER at 3:30 a.m. I was in manageable pain by that point, but still felt like someone was punching my abdomen and I was losing the boxing match.
The doctor immediately put me on morphin, which helped considerably with the pain. Again, we were still unsure what was going on. My best guess was a ruptured appendix. Nick's best guess was kidney stones. The nurse also brought up a ruptured gall bladder. During the course of the night, I had a CT scan, a pelvic exam, and an ultrasound. After the CT scan, it was determined that I had an ovarian cyst on my right ovary that had burst, painfully filling my pelvis with blood as it ruptured.
Most women will have a cyst on one or both of their ovaries during their lifetime, but typically, never feel it and never feel it rupture. My special type of cyst is the kind that is filled with blood, and so when it ruptures, does so painfully.
At around 12:30 the next afternoon, after about 9 hours in the ER, we were released. Now, my abdomen felt not only like it had lost a boxing match, but that it had been rubbed down on the inside with sandpaper. I felt weak, in pain, and nauseous.
Two days later, I can still feel the pain consistently in my abdomen. It is still very sore and I am still taking pain medication. I have been resting, trying to get as much sleep as possible and also trying to move as little as possible.
Some lessons that I've learned from this experience:
1. Never take your health for granted. I have never felt so grateful that I live a pain free life until I was curled up in such severe pain unable to move.
2. I have the most wonderful people in my life. From my mom who woke up in the middle of the night to Jesse who also woke up to talk with me to my dad who consistently worried to my incredible boyfriend who held my hand and never left my side, I am feeling pretty blessed for all the love and support that I have. I couldn't have made it through this without my incredible boyfriend, Nick. He never left my side, held my hand, wiped away my tears while I cried, held me up while I hobbled around, massaged my sore back and shoulders, and was my unfailing cheerleader. He's a keeper that's for sure :)
3. Always have an emergency substitute teacher plan! What a lifesaver! Tuesday morning when I took off work in the ER, I didn't have to worry. I just told another teacher in my department where my emergency sub plan was, where the worksheets were, and bingo! No scrambling to figure something out!
4. God is good. The entirety of Monday, I had a very distinct feeling that something bad was going to happen. I told Sister Cahoon and Sister Welch (the sister missionaries) not an hour before my pain began that I felt like something bad was going to happen this week. The Spirit warned me ahead of time that I was going to experience a challenge, so that I could be prepared.
Emergencies. They help us realize what really matters most in life.
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