SURGERY IN THE SUNSHINE STATE

Well, I was able to see parts of Florida I expected to see, like the beach, and some I didn't expect, like the hospital.

Daytona Beach

When I first got to Florida I stopped in Daytona Beach. And can I just say, I felt like I had time traveled back into the 1980's! I saw mullets galore and overly tanned bleach blonde girls wearing neon cut off shirts. It was actually kind of comical and fun to see. I don't really know what else I was expecting to see in a town surrounded by race car fans. I was able to even see the Daytona track to make my trip to this city complete. Ok, well I saw the outside of the stadium. I parked in a Walmart across the street for the night and listened to the race cars do their time trials.

After Daytona I continued on to see a relative of mine, Tish, that lived near Melbourne, FL. She is my grandmother's neice, so to make the story less complicated we just say we are cousins. Anyway, I had planned to stay with her about a week. We were going to go to the beach, and St. Augustine, and even a Willie Nelson concert! But there were other plans in store for me that I was not aware of.

One day after breakfast with Tish and her family my right side began to cramp up like I've never felt before. I shut myself up in a bathroom stall and tried to will the pain to go away. Of course that didn't work and I even threw up because of how painful it was. Tish convinced me to go to a hospital and I really couldn't protest too much. After what seemed like an incredibly long time of ultrasounds, cat scans, and pain medication they packed me up into an ambulance to take me to another hospital that was larger and had more expertise for what they thought it might be. I couldn't really enjoy the ride even with the meds. Then again who really enjoys riding in an ambulance?

Once I got to the hospital, they did more tests and determined it was a twisted ovary caused by a very large cyst. It had cut off all blood supply to the organ. The next morning it became clear that the only option I really had was to have the ovary removed. Surgery was really not what I was expecting when I got to the sunshine state. But by the time they were ready to operate I just wanted it to be over with  because whatever pain meds they were shooting me up with wasn't helping as much as you'd think it would.

Long story short, the surgery went well and I recovered pretty quickly all things considered. I spent a couple of nights in the hospital and my mom even flew in from Colorado to help Tish out with the "motherly caring". Thanks mom and Tish! I wasn't able to see the Willie Nelson concert, but my mom went in my place. I know why she really came down to Florida. For the beautiful weather and Willie Nelson!

Anyway, the point is, I was ok and very lucky that if it was going to happen at least it was with a caring family by my side and a nice place to recover.

It's been almost three weeks now, and I'm happy to report that everything is almost back to normal. I'm not able to sleep in the back of my car anymore for now, but the hotels have been comfy. Good excuse right?!

Florida showed me some great hospitality when I needed it most. Thank you to the amazing staff at the hospital that cared for me and for my cousin Tish and her family for helping me out and being so nice and accommodating!

That's not the end of my trip to Florida though. Don't think I didn't have some adventure! Well, an adventure not involving surgery anyway.

~Kelsey P. ~