May 21-23, 2000 -- The Curse of Charleston

I woke up in the middle of the night with the chills. I figured that I was getting the flu again. I also figured I would deal with it in the morning and went back to bed. I woke up in the morning with a fever, and as soon as I started moving, a pain in my lower abdomen. I came into the main saloon, and sat down in a bit of pain. Mike took my temperature and we pulled out our Mosby's Health encyclopedia. After working through the diagnosis, the instructions were to seek medical attention immediately. The courtesy van took us to the emergency room at the Medical University of South Carolina. They checked me in, did some blood work and took x-rays. The doctor told me I definitely had appendicitis, and my appendix would need to come out. I was taken down to the anesthesiologist and knocked out. I woke up around 5:00 PM, EDT; I was ravenous. Mike got me a roast beef sub from Subway. I ate that, as well as the dinner the hospital brought. Around 2:00 AM EDT, my fever spiked at 103.8. A resident doctor came to check me out. He didn't feel that things were completely out of line with what had happened. However, he instructed the nurse to give me a dose of antibiotics and encourage me to do some walking and breathing work. He also told me that the hospital would be keeping me an extra day for observation. I did some walking, then returned to bed, was given some pain medication and then slept for the rest of the night. On May 22, I had breakfast, then continued walking and breathing. The day was pretty routine, I would use the breathing machine, then walk the hallways for a while, then I would nap for a while. Mike kept me company all day, doing laps with me, and occasionally stepping outside to smoke a cigarette. After Mike went home, I continued walking and breathing. Finally the nurse ordered me back to my room and then brought me pain medication. On May 23, the hospital released me. Mike and I left the hospital around 9:30 AM, and walked to the Eckerd Drugs in the next block. We filled my prescriptions, then went back to the boat where I promptly collapsed. Later in the day, Bob and Joanne stopped by to see how I was doing and then headed back to their boat. I spent the rest of the day staying quiet I had had a big day