Dr. Norris, Nurse Kelly and another young scrub wearing dude came into the room.
"Comfortable enough?" Dr. Norris asked.
"Yeah," I said.
"Okay, this should be simple enough," he said pulling up a stool beside me. "We're going to give you a local so you won't feel anything. I am going to then place a sterile bandage that has a little port on your belly and insert a tapered needle through it. Through the port I will then place a little tube onto your appendix, with the guidance of the ultrasound. We will then attach this little balloon to the end of the tube that is going to slowly inflate vacuuming out the fluids and releasing the pressure. By the time the local has worn off you should be in a lot less pain."
"Okay," I said starting to tremble a bit.
"Don't look so worried," Kelly said while the Doctor readied the ultrasound. "I'll be right here with you and your sister is just outside the door."
She lowered my blanket and lifted my gown, just briefly to make sure the catheter was still positioned properly, before lifting the blanket back up to my waist again. She then painted a large circle from my belly button to my hipbone with, what I guessed was iodine, using what looked like a giant q-tip. The young dude had been busy opening sterile packages of things and came over to place a thin blue crinkly paper over my abdomen that had about a 4 inch window port in it for the doctor to work through. When he stepped out of the way, Kelly stepped in with a large needle.
"This is going to pinch for just a wink and then that pain you have been in all night will quickly disappear," she said. Even with a surgical mask, there was no doubt when she was smiling. Her eyes were full of expression. Man, I was crushing hard on this girl.
She poked me and it was exactly as she had said. The pain and tension released quickly and my whole body gave a sigh of relief. I could feel myself peeing. I guess I had been holding everything in trying to stifle the pain. Kelly stepped back and took her place on my left side while the Doctor pulled up on my right.
"Very important that you remain completely still now," he said.
I turned my head to Kelly at this point, not wanting to watch this part of the procedure. Her eyes caught mine and locked in. "So what would you normally be doing on a Friday night," she asked.
I was nervous and distracted so I didn't muster much of a response. "Not much," I said. "You?"
"Oh, if I wasn't here I'd probably be at open mic night at my corner pub," she said. "My cousin hosts it, so Friday nights are like family night at the pub."
"Do you sing?" I asked.
"No, I sometimes play the mandolin or the penny whistle when my Dad sings though," she said. "I am the least talented member of the family," she laughed.
"That sounds cool," I said. She had managed to distract and relax me. I was back in the mood to flirt and learn more about Kelly, not at all thinking about what Dr. Norris was doing.
She reached over me and when she was back in her place I could see her folding a square absorbent pad that was full of blood. "Whoa," I said.
"Just look at me," Kelly said glancing between my eyes and watching what the Doc was doing. "You are almost done!"
"There," Dr. Norris said. "Looks like we are well in the target area."
I looked over at him to see him staring at the ultrasound screen. In the open window square in the paper covering my belly I could see a small tube coming out of a circular bandaid. I was covered in rust coloured iodine and ultrasound gel. The young Doctor opened a packet containing a small balloon that he squeezed all of the air out of before attaching it to the belly tube. I could see a very slow siphon of murky fluid starting to pump through the tube towards the balloon.
"Excellent," said Dr. Norris taking off his gloves. "I'll talk to your sister and be back to check on you shortly," he said leaving with his assistant in tow.
"Thanks Doc," I said.
Kelly changed her gloves and started tidying up, throwing all the open packets, the swabs and the blue sheet into a bio-waste bin in the corner.
"So this is going to drain the puss and the pills are going to fight the infection and then hopefully I won't need surgery?" I asked.
"That's the hope," she said. "You will probably still need surgery though. This really reduces the risk of sceptic infection and complications. If you do end up with surgery it will be a breeze for you, and you won't be in any pain while you wait."
She came around to the other side of the bed and bent down by my feet. I heard a splashing sound. When she stood up she had a plastic container the size of a small milk jug half full of urine.
"What the?" I said.
