In Gratitude for. ..

• My mom, who late on Tuesday morning told me I should take that pain in the right lower quadrant of my abdomen seriously and call my family doctor. (And thereafter lots of visits to the hospital every day from Wednesday through today when I came home.)
  
  
• My family doctor's colleague, who was covering for my doctor and upon observing all my symptoms sent me straight to the E.R. (I had a fever by the time I got to his office.)
  
  
• The E.R. doctor, who not only treated me kindly but also waited prudently for the CAT scan results so I (narrowly) avoided surgery. (Rare right-sided diverticulitis trumps appendicitis. He also wrote me a note for school.)
  
  
• The really nice nurses who were comforting and just very understanding when I was admitted with a ton of pain and thereafter rather puke-y from the heavy-duty antibiotics. (They never complained, even though with Labor Day weekend looming there were times of short-staffing.)
  
  
• My school, for being understanding and putting me on their prayer list instead of giving me s**t (not that I ever thought they would) for missing two in-service days.
  
  
• The medical residents/interns/students who were lovely. . . even when I had a meltdown on the intern who was poking my sore belly at the crack of dawn Wednesday.
  
  
• My dad, who isn't big on hospital visits, for coming last night to bring me some more clothes and things to keep me occupied. (His reward: a cookie I saved from dinner.)
  
  
• A doctor friend of the family, who called me from the road several times to check in on me and advocate for me.
  
  
• Younger Sister, who kept texting me hilarious stuff ("Any cute doctors or murses?" I guess "murse" = male nurse!?) and cracked up when I snarked about Runway (shut up, Ivy) and consoled her at being dumped on by her friends she was taking a trip (stop being so reliable and not sucking, I told her).
  
  
• (Updated to add) My pastor, who took time out from a really hectic day yesterday in between a funeral and other stuff at the parish (having given the parish staff off for the weekend) to call me and see how I was doing and letting me know I was in his prayers. He's a gem. Would that everyone could know a priest like that.
  
  
• And finally, The Cat, for being a real trouper when my mom (whom she loathes) came to feed her day after day. (She stopped hissing at Mom by Friday.) Also for not trashing the apartment in her bereft state. (You better believe kitty is very clingy right now.)
  

The most important thing I want to stress is all this happened the day before my new job's healthcare started on September 1, so it was a good thing I had paid for my own insurance for the summer. Don't let your insurance lapse--if you can't afford COBRA, check with your school's alumni association, check the major carriers for a plan that costs even a little--just make sure you are covered if you can't pay outright for hospitalization (which most of us can't).

I hate to say it, but my mother was right--"what if something really bad happened to you in the meantime???"

I'm feeling quite a bit better now. The pain's almost gone but I am taking some serious antibiotics for more than a week. Fun times. And I'm on a special low-fiber diet. Doesn't that sound like even more fun? Especially when it's the total opposite of everything you normally eat?

They don't know why I got it. It's rare to have it on the right side, and even rarer that a 30-something got it. But all I care about is getting rid of it.

One day at a time.