The Appendix Exit Incident of 2023

When I first had the idea to write about my recent hospital experience, I was in the hospital emergency department waiting for testing and then test results to figure out what was causing the pain in my abdomen. I thought that some of the thoughts that were going through my head were funny and would make a funny article about my experience. While recovering at home from a successful laparoscopic appendectomy, I was losing the energy to write about my experience, and it seemed that my experience of the experience was changing. I started thinking about it since I had a lot more time to think (in between naps and episodes of The Price is Right) and the weight of the experience seemed to hit me. So, when I went to write, I didn’t feel like it. I didn’t feel like writing at all. Even a surgery that went well and ultimately made me feel better took a lot out of my body, and eventually my brain caught up with that.

I was completely out for the surgery so my mind didn’t know what was happening or what had happened until my body filled it in later. My mind/ brain thought we could continue as normal. I think the conversation — previously unspoken and now put into words — went like this.

Body to brain: Hey….Hey!….HEY!!! STOP what you’re doing RIGHT NOW!

Brain to Body: Why? What’s that? What are you yelling about?

Body: Listen to me, I have to tell you something.

Brain: Okay, go ahead. I’m listening (sigh).