Eating Chicken Can Be Painful

I found out last week what was causing my physical pain. It was not appendicitis, as I had thought, but it was dangerous and almost deadly.
The pain persisted in my right side until I finally went to the emergency room on Sunday afternoon, March 2, 2008. After the doctor examined me and CT scans were run on my stomach, nothing was found. They admitted me to the hospital for observation. The next day, my doctor, Julie Schindler, came in and took one look at me and said, "You're not going anywhere yet" and told me she couldn't send me home. Later that day, she made arrangements with Dr. Eliot Sieloff in Tallahassee to accept me as a patient. As soon as a bed became available at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, I was transported via ambulance by my friends, Rob Covell and Jimmy Kent, to TMH.
As soon as I arrived at TMH, I was immediately taken into emergency exploratory surgery, where Dr. Sieloff found what had happened and took care of it immediately. It seemed that a chicken bone had gotten stuck in my small intestine and had lodged there, causing an infection. Dr. Sieloff said that one thing that kept the infection from spreading further was a belly button hernia that I have.
God is good and gracious to have spared my life and to have granted me relief from that pain. It was so bad that I could not stand up straight and anytime I moved, it was wrenching.
I thank Dr. Sieloff and all the wonderful nurses at TMH. Most of all, though, I thank God.
I'm so glad to be home now with my family. I thank God for them.