I removed my own drain

Since Saturday night late a tube has been draining stuff from the area of my burst appendix into what the nurses call affectionately a Grenade. It's called that because it is a a little plastic bottle that you compress which automatically keeps a slight suction going through the tube until the Grenade is filled with fluids you need to exit from the area of the Burst Appendix.

So today, as the doctor and a student nurse talked about one of them removing the tube I asked if I could do it. The doctor, a lady was surprised I asked to do this.

The main reason I wanted to do this myself is that I could make it hurt the least because after all it is my body we are pulling this drain plastic tube out of.

So, I slowly pulled it out to minimize the pain involved. The doctor said she had never seen a patient do this before. I told her I also had delivered my first two children myself too, for her to better understand what kind of a person I actually am.

Then I gave the grenade and the tube to the student nurse so he could share with his classmates his experience in volunteer treating an actual person in a hospital who had undergone treatment for a burst appendix.

So, the next time any of them get to participate in helping someone in my present condition they will be much more prepared for this experience and more likely to be more helpful as a direct result.