Have you ever had surgery? What for?

This story takes place in April of 2014. At the time, under the Obama administration, they had established rules for healthcare that students could still be covered under their parents health insurance plans up to 25 years old. (I’m sure there was another stipulation but it escapes me right now.)

Unfortunately for me, I had just turned 26 a couple weeks prior.

It was a Friday evening and I noticed a pain in my right side. I thought it was just gas or something and I was just going to try and sleep through it. No matter how I lay in bed I couldn’t get comfortable enough to fall asleep. The pain got so bad that I decided to go to the Emergency Room.

It was late in the evening when they admitted me and I hadn’t messaged my family yet because I was waiting for lab results and scans. Eventually the doctor on duty came in and explained what the scans showed and why it took so long. It turned out that my appendix was in an unusual position. Normally, the human appendix hangs down, but mine was sort of tucked upwards behind the intestines, but once they found it they were able to diagnose that I had a case of appendicitis!

So, they booked me for surgery the following morning and the rest is basically history. Was in and out real quick, my parents came up that morning to help me pick up prescriptions and get home, and then I was recovering at home.