Something to Ponder

My husband had to have an emergency appendectomy yesterday. He's doing fine after it but will be staying in the hospital at least until Saturday because his appendix ruptured before he had the surgery.

Here's the thing, though: The guy drove himself to the hospital with a ruptured appendix.

I KNOW!

What kind of Crazy On Legs is THAT? It's not like he HAD to, either. There were plenty of people, myself included, who were standing by, ready to drive him once he gave the okay. But instead what he did was text me from a gurney in the hospital as he was being wheeled into surgery.

Y'all, I have given more notice before removing a HANGNAIL.

So, aside from the fact that once I got to the hospital, everyone greeted me with a certain amount of coolness (no doubt thinking that I'd made the poor guy drive himself because I was busy eating bon-bons and watching soap operas,) the other thing that came out of this was how many women have similar stories about their husbands. The first nurse I met said her husband had done the same exact thing. (Because naturally I told her as soon as I could in an effort to get her to diffuse the lynch mob.)

I heard from other people who had similar stories, too. And I started thinking, "Well, dang, maybe this is the KEY to the whole "Men are from Mars, Women Want Them to Stay There" dialogue." Maybe if we could get to the bottom of why men think it's better to risk their freaking LIVES by driving themselves to the hospital instead of accepting a tiny bit of assistance, we'd be able to solve all marital discord and misunderstanding.

I have no idea what the answer is, though. Frankly, I think men are weird.

And when Coop gets out of the hospital, I'm going to smack him hard.

Except, you know, first I'm going to kiss his whole head.

Comments

Ei said…
Well my husband (at the time) drove ME to the hospital when I had my emergency appendectomy. Why? Because I wasn't going to go and he stuffed me in the car and took me. I don't know. Knowing what it felt like, I'm sure he thought he was just sick, not ready for surgery.
Anonymous said…
Poor Coop! I agree though -- after kissing him you should smack him silly. I don't know what they're thinking -- well obviously they're NOT thinking.
LaDonna said…
Wow....just...well, WOW!
ccr in MA said…
Poor Coop, I hope he feels better soon. Then you can whap him one, for scaring you if nothing else.
Anonymous said…
I hope Coop is feeling better.

Debbie J.
Susan said…
Boy, good thing he made it to the hospital safely! I don't know what it is about men. My uncle said his heart felt funny one morning when he was driving to work so he drove himself to emergency instead where he had surgery to implant a pacemaker. When you think about the could-haves involved in these scenarios, it's just scary. I hope Coop has a fast recovery. You'd better smack him so that he doesn't even dream of doing something so scary in the future.
Mrs.Q said…
Smack him real hard! I'm so glad he's going to be OK, but...gawd they can be dense sometimes! Fort example - Before calling my mother for help, my Dad drove himself home from a meeting WHILE HAVING A STROKE. Like, hello?!?!

I hope you've comforted yourself with some much-deserved bonbons and soap operas!
Anonymous said…
Yikes! That is crazy. Men are crazy. I guess that's why we love them, we're crazy too.

If only we could all get our psychosis on the same page.
Karen said…
My ex's appendix decided it was time to jump ship when he was about 14. He told his parents about the agony he was in, increasing the intensity of his complaints for several hours before they finally thought perhaps they should do something. They calmly discussed what to do and they decided a trip to the ER was in order.

But first, my ex-FIL decided he needed to shower, since he had mowed the grass that morning.

So they let him suffer another half-hour, laying on the floor in incredible pain, before heading to the hospital. He was rushed immediatly into surgery.

So apparently they never outgrow this type of stupidity, even when they are fathers.
Karen said…
PS - hope Coop recovers quickly!!
Hannah said…
It will no doubt provide him with excellent bragging right in the office when he returns. Which is worth any amount of pain and suffering.
Glad he's okay!

But, yeah - typical guy thing...it's sorta cute, isn't it?
joannamauselina said…
Yikes! It's good thing he got there in one piece. Men are indeed peculiar. Glad all is OK.
Bullwinkle said…
Wow.

May Coop heal quickly and feel better even sooner than that.

In his defense ;) I've heard from lots of people (/hi! Raises hand!) that we've heard appendicitis is terrible and awful and what not and you can't miss it. And then after several burst ovarian cysts (well, that can't be Coop's excuse) you realize it isn't all that bad and you know they can't do anything do you just ignore it.

But as for the Men are from Mars part - are we (humans) genetically hard-wired so that home renovations stress women out but not men? What's up with that?
Tenna Draper said…
This is SO my husband, too, but I had a similar experience--I knew I had something wrong with ME. I had a little pain in my side. I had a fever. They kept me awake at night. The next day, I tried to get hubby to take me to the doctor. His response was "There's nothing wrong with you!"

So I drove myself.

They told me I had diverticulitis. I could have ruptured my bowel! (tmi?) and died in the car from sepsis or something--I called him from my hospital bed.

"They're keeping me overnight--and maybe through the weekend for observation." I said.

That's when HE drove to the hospital. He hasn't doubted me since.

But now, he has this lesion on his belly--he went to the doctor for a biopsy. We'll see if it turns into anything. Thank goodness he hasn't tried to take himself to the doctor for those kidney stones!
Kathy Ireland said…
I'm one of the ones who has a story JUST like that one. (My) Mark's appendix ruptured a week before Christmas, the same year he had his heart attack. He moaned and groaned and layed on the couch for, I think, 2 or 3 days until finally one night at about 11:00 p.m. I just said "Of for goodness sake. Just go to the damn ER would, ya!!??" So he took a bus halfway, then walked halfway, and the hospital never called (and wouldn't let him call) once he got there. I layed awake until 5:00 a.m. wondering if he was dead in a snowbank somewhere. That's when I finally called the hospital and they still wouldn't tell me anything other than he was schedued for surgery. What a terrible day that was!

Hope Coop is better soon. Mark had a problem with his fever sticking around so ended up staying over a week in the hospital. We finally convinced them to let him come home on Christmas Eve but he probably should have stayed. He was pretty sore for close to a month.

It's very dangerous when it ruptured like that. Coop is lucky and I'm glad he got to the hospital when he did!

Quick recovery Coop! (sorry for the long comment)
Unknown said…
My husband did not have an appendix rupture, 'just' kidney stones when he decided to drive himself to the hospital.

I hope Coop is getting better.
Candi said…
Holy guacamole!! Lots of prayers and good thoughts for Coop (and you!).

I know that had to be scary! Take some deep breaths now that you know he is okay. And a little bit of that left over chocolate probably wouldn't hurt anything either. ;-)
Unknown said…
Yeah was IS that??/ I once suggested my husband look into anti anxiety meds and he said he wasn't going to take that shit. The same shit he makes sure I have taken every day...so it's good for me but shit for him?
Susan said…
I must have the only husband who whould not do that. He wants lot's of attention and company when he is feeling bad.
Ann in NJ said…
Wow. Glad he's okay. I think I need a glass of wine after hearing that - and you must need the whole bottle!
kim said…
Oh, my gosh! Poor Coop! I'm glad he's okay. Men can be so silly. Sometimes they are such big babies, but then when it comes to important stuff, they are ridiculously stoic. Get well soon, Coop!
DK said…
Boys are dumb.

And weird.

And I'm really glad he's okay.
MadMad said…
Oh, my goodness! I'm gone for a week and look what happens! Holy mackerel! I hope he's OK! How scary!
Anonymous said…
To Susan up there somewhere in the comments - my husband would call me at work to take him to the ER for a hangnail. I don't exactly have the stoic type either.
Miri said…
What? Was he going for the tough guy of the year or something? In New York, no less.

I hope he's having a speedy recovery. And that you get to drive him home.
Amanda said…
My BIL drove himself to a specialist, from Southern New Jersey to Philadelphia, with a broken leg. When asked, he said it had hurt a bit, but not that much, so he thought he'd just wrenched it. eek!