Life in the Herd

When the unthinkable happens

There are certain things you never want to happen. Ever.

My weekend started normally enough. My two best friends and I went to the Green and White game Saturday afternoon, and despite my preparation to my already sunburned skin, the sun and heat of the 90 plus degree day got the better of me.  Originally, I was going to dedicate this entire blog to that game and the inspirational words spoken by Chad Pennington and the rest of the 1999 undefeated team. I was going to talk about how cool it was to feel like I have come cirlce. (My first Marshall experience was watching this team play at The Joan from the student section with my sister and future brother in law.)

But, then the rest of the week happened and that feels as if it was ten years ago. The events that unfolded on Sunday evening are probably some of every parent’s biggest worries, and are definitely something I never thought would happen.

On Sunday evening, my best friend stumbled into my room exepectedly, crying. It is not uncommon for this particular friend to show up unannounced, or crying for that matter, but my friend is a resident advisor and has a meeting in about 10 minutes. Under normal circumstances, she would never have come to my room with that little amount of time if something was not really wrong.

As she was curled up on my bed, she began telling me what was wrong. “Ari, it hurts here. What’s right here?” she asked while motioning to the lower rightside of her abdomen. At that moment, I knew we were in for a long night, but I wanted to double-check before I told her what it was.

After using WebMD and my parents to check her syptoms and our plan of action, I knew that she needed to go to the ER, but I also knew that my friend was one of the most stubborn people that I have ever met. As I told her that I thought it was appendicitis, she told me I was crazy. After a while of arguing, she told me that she had to go to her meeting and agreed that if she was still feeling bad afterwards that she would go.

Much to her dismay she was still in pain, and walking was becoming more difficult. So, after talking to the Resident Director, my friend’s mother, and making a few other phone calls, we were finally off to the ER about an hour later. At about midnight, after two hours of waiting, my friend was finally called into a room ans was told she was going to be having a CAT scan. So, we waited again. By 3 AM, my friend’s mother and step-father had made it from her hometown just minutes before her CAT scan.

I cannot imagine the fear that her parents were feeling after hearing that their daughter was sitting in the emergency with something that was most likely going to cause her surgery. At 4 AM, just after her stepfather drove me back to my Residence Hall, I got a phone call from her mother telling me that the Doctor had confirmed it as appendicitis.

My best friend had surgery just over two hours later, and is doing fine now, but the fear that comes with seeing you friend have something that wrong is overwhelming. All she really wanted in that moment was for her mother to be there with her, but her mother was 3 hours away and I was the only confort she had in that emergency room.

But, I tell this story not to make people fear for their own lives, or their child’s lives, but to talk of the extreme kindness with which my friend was treated. Everyone that she came into contact with was extremely kind and friendly, and most were even considerate of the fact that she was hours away from home. I know that this is a college town, but I did not expect the people to be so concerned that she was not at home. It was very comforting.

My friend has ben out of class for the entire week, and came back to her room on campus today.  She cannot carry more than 5 pounds and it takes her about 30 minutes to walk accross campus. But, when she arrived back, she was greeted with several bouquets of flowers as well as tons of friends who were eager to help. It is comforting to know that even in the most frightening of times people will step up and take care of those they know. It definitely makes me feel so much better about living six hours from home.