“Where am I again?” She attempts to move but winces in the process.
The nurse touches her arms to encourage her not to move. “Sweetie, you’re in the hospital. I’m going to grab the doctor, okay?” The nurse leaves the room.
“Hospital, oh yeah,” Brielle seems confused, as she should be. “Fuck, why does it feel like I just gave birth or something?”
My lips twitch before I bring her hand to my mouth for a kiss. “You gave birth to your appendix, if that counts?” I do my best to keep this situation light.
She groans at the realization. “That’s what was happening?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid so. You had emergency surgery.”
“I recall something vaguely.” She seems to be taking in her surroundings. “Where’s Connor?”
“Still with my sister, he knows you’re here. Violet will bring him later.”
The doctor and the nurse returning to the room bring a sense of reality.
The woman in her fifties with glasses gives us a polite smile. “Brielle, you’re awake again. I’m Dr. Thorpe.” She comes to stand near Brielle’s monitor. “You gave everyone quite a scare, but the good news is appendicitis is quite a common occurrence, and now with your appendix gone, you never have to worry about getting it out again.”
“How did this happen?” Brielle asks, a bit weary.
“There are many reasons why this can occur, stress and digestion to name a couple. Luckily, your fiancé called an ambulance and got you here in time so we could do a laparoscopic surgery before the appendix ruptured. That means a quicker recovery time too. Within five days you should probably feel like nothing happened. We gave you antibiotics as a preventive matter because you can be more prone to infection now.”
Brielle attempts to move again but whimpers from the pain, which in turn causes me to tense. I fucking hate seeing her this way and wish I could somehow make it better.
The doctor places her hand on Brielle’s shoulder. “Rest. You can start to move around later today.”
“I’ll make sure she rests.” I’m firm, and the doctor smiles at me.
“I’m confident you will have a full recovery,” the doctor mentions again. “You can go home tomorrow; I want to monitor you for one more day.”
“I can’t even move.” Brielle seems horrified.
The doctor laughs in a comforting way. “It feels like that, I’m sure, but I promise as soon as you start moving, it will quickly get better.”
I notice Brielle’s other hand touch her stomach, and she must feel the bandages.
“They say it is minimal scarring,” I tell her.
The doctor nods. “The bandage is bigger than the wound. You have a small incision by your belly button and another one on your side; it will look like a mole.”
“Oh.” Brielle swallows, and I grab the bottle of water on the side table. She must be thirsty. “What does this mean if I ever want to…”
The doctor looks between us and registers the question. “Have a baby, I presume is what you’re asking?”
“Yeah,” Brielle shyly responds.
“You’ll be fine. Some people find removing the appendix actually helps with fertility and others say to monitor for ectopic pregnancy, but in most cases, there are no problems. Speaking of which, we did take out your IUD as a precaution to prevent infections from spreading, so you will need to make an appointment with your gynecologist to get a new one.”
“Sure. So, how long after recovery can we…”
My eyes grow impressed that my girl’s mind is already there.
The doctor chortles a laugh. “Probably already in a week or two you can resume intercourse. Rest, and I will check on you during my next rounds.” The doctor smiles one more time before mumbling something to the nurse about offering pain medication.
It doesn’t take long for Brielle and me to be alone again.
“I was so fucking worried. Going out of my mind,” I admit.
