Roma, Italia Day I November 6, 2011

Roma, Italia Day I
I think that I am ready to tell this story. It took me a few days to gain some perspective on the adventure!

I awoke on 11.5 with a pain below my navel but thought it was just excitement and I decided to ignore or if it were pre-motion sickness I was ready with the Dramamine!

Everything went smoothly at the airport other than the flight to Philadelphia was full and they had me check my carry-on at the gate which meant I would pick it up on the ramp as I was exiting the plane. The flight was smooth. We arrived in Philly and I had to only wait a few minutes for my bag but we were at a different concourse than our connecting flight to Rome so it was a sprint to the next gate. But we made it about ten minutes before boarding. At first we thought we were lucky getting the bulkhead seats but quickly realized the 4 bathrooms were in front of us, people just walked through our stuff to check the availability of said restrooms and we were not allowed to have much with us because there was no place to stow it! So for 9 hours lights on and doors slamming! On the other hand my pain was escalating. So I was glad the bathrooms were near. Soon there was nausea involved!

I was happy to land in Rome! We went through customs which involved a passport check only. We retrieved Carly's bag of winter clothes from the baggage carousel and found a sidewalk cafe to sit and wait for Carl who was coming to meet us from Viterbo. Hugs- we've missed this girl! We walked to the train station and found an airport shuttle that would take us to our hotel.

Our hotel room wouldn't be ready for about an hour and a half so we walked several blocks and sat on the Spanish Steps.

We sat and absorbed Roma. As soon as we could we returned to the hotel and all laid down for naps since sleeping on the plane was not in the cards. The girls did some research and discovered that the pain of appendicitis starts in the center of the belly and moves to the right side which is what my pain did. And, of course, pain is the last thing that happens so medical attention becomes urgent.



So about 6 pm we took a taxi to Policlinico Umberto Primo Pronto Soccorso. Blood tests, an ultra sound and surgery by one am. Molly and Lindy went home and Carly (the Italiano speaker) stayed with me! I awoke naked and writhing in pain. But they kept the pain meds going for the next two days. Still no gown.......