Roll the dice

Dad had only been there a few minutes when Mom and our doctor came back in. The results were that they didn't know for sure what was wrong with me and wanted to keep me overnight for obsevation.

Now things get hazy here. I think they must have given me something for the pain. If they did it was a Micky Finn because I don't remember it. I was NOT thrilled about not going home. With 4 more kids there at least one of the folks had to go and with both of them working to make ends meet they were both tired. I believe what went down was that they both left and Mom would be back later after dinner and to get some books and things to bring me.

That would leave me lying on the cold table alone with the nurse and still not sure what was going to happen. I know they moved me to a regular bed but it wasn't a regular room, it was an observation room. There was a big window anyone could look in. They didn't have all the fancy remote computer attachments yet so the nurses would be in and out.

And they wouldn't let me EAT! And no drinking! Now that put me in a fit! I could only suck on ice. They did give me popsicles. It wasn't mashed potatoes and gravy. I know Mom made it back because I remember her telling me she would stay, that the latest sitter would come by in the morning to get the kids off to school. I was wondering if they would have popsicles for breakfast. So I must have been drugged a little.

The pains continued to hit and get worse but they still stopped, too. Later I found out that the doctors had had a boy with the same symtoms I had come in about a week earlier. They diagnosed and did surgury for appendicitis and it wasn't. There was a law suit. So they wanted to make sure that was what I had.

What are chances of two kids in two weeks presenting the same symtoms with different problems? It was strictly bad luck that he got there first. The result of this little snag was the observation part. They would wait and see if I had what he had (stomach infection) or if it was my apendix. Stalling.

And after all their diddling around I get to wake up in the recovery room very early the next morning not remembering a thing with a hundred pound weight on my tummy. I was groggy and something tasted terrible in my mouth, my chest hurt and I could hardly breathe with the pressure on my stomach.

The first thing I did was try to get whatever it was off me. My hands didn't work very well but I finally caught what felt like an edge and started to try to slide it off. It was stuck. My foggy brain finally figured out that meant I had to pull up on it and tip it off. When I pulled it hurt and I must have made a noise because the nurse came rushing over crying, "No, no honey! Don't pull your bandage off!" She grabbed my hands and started to tie them to the side of the bed (in the old days all beds had restraints, I guess) and I went off like a fire siren!

"Let me GO! Let me GO! Get these ropes off me NOW!" I may have been groggy but I was still claustrophobic and not going to be tied down. People stared in from the hall and she relented quickly, unhooking whatever the things were on my wrists but making me swear to leave the stuff on my tummy alone.

Well for cying out loud! I didn't know they were bandages! I didn't even know I was hurt. I didn't know where I was, how I got there or why I was there. I groped after memories but all I got was Mom tucking me in and leaving me a book to read myself to sleep with. It was a brand new Bobbsie Twins my Grama S had sent for me. Mom - THAT was what I wanted! She would fix this!

"Where's my Mom," I inquired?

"No one can see you yet, we have to make sure you are ok first." She spoke as if it was written in stone, no appeal.

Well I might be only 12 but that dog wasn't going to hunt. I KNEW how to get my Mom from anywhere. Drugs or no drugs, "I want my MOMMY!" screeched at the top of a healthy, young voice with lungs developed over years of getting the little kids to listen to you over their fights will travel through walls, floors and ceilings.

I put it at emergency volumn, auto repeat and added tears. Mom was there in under two minutes. Stupid nurses. Ignorant doctors. She should have been there when I woke up and we could have skipped all the confusion.

She carefully slid an arm under my shoulders and brought her face down beside mine lovingly. "Stop that screaming right now, young lady!" she snapped in a whisper. Then she gave me a hug. I snorted to a quick stop and asked her, "Where am I?"