December 7, 1980

I was delivering newspapers for the Peoria Journal Star.  It was a cold and rainy morning and I was miserable.  Cold and wet, but trying to keep the papers dry, I walked from house to house putting the morning paper in the customer’s mailbox or inside the storm door.  Actually, I ran from house to house in an effort to get done as soon as possible but I also wanted to get stronger.  Just three months prior, I came close to dying before my 16^th birthday.

September 5^th has special meaning in my family.  It is my mom’s birthday.  It also was the day I had an emergency appendectomy.  It started on Tuesday, September 2^nd.  Mom made a tasty and filling dinner of spaghetti and salad.  For dessert, she made chocolate-tunnel of fudge cake.  Being a growing teenage boy, I ate my fill of spaghetti but had to cram in as much dessert as possible.  Of course, I ate too much and believed I waddled around the house afterward.  I felt a bit of indigestion but didn’t think much of it. 

As the night progressed, pain in my stomach grew worse and moved to the lower right quadrant of my torso.  When I woke the following morning and told my parents, we agreed I should stay home from school.  Mom called throughout the day and visited during her lunch break.  I had no appetite and didn’t eat.  It was several days before I ate anything of consequence.  I don’t remember how the pain affected me other than it wasn’t terrible.  I wasn’t doubled over in pain.  I could walk and move about but certain movements brought greater discomfort. 

At some point, the word appendicitis was mentioned by someone.  My dad had suffered this before and remarked since I wasn’t doubled over in pain that couldn’t be the correct diagnosis.  I slept fitfully through that night and stayed home from school the following morning.  However, after a shower and some crackers I felt I could go to school.  Mom took me to school but I was only there a short time when I felt much worse.  I didn’t want to leave early and simply toughed out the remaining hours until the bell rang for our dismissal. 

There were two ways to walk home from the school.  The shortest route is out the back, over the railroad tracks and across a small creek and it is only 1 block to home.  The other way follows the streets.  I honestly wasn’t sure I could make it home the short way and feared passing out and not being found.  Therefore, I started walking slowly down the street.  I stopped a few times as some students passed by.  They asked how I was and a couple walked with me until our paths parted.  I got home safely but felt much worse.

I remained home the following day, my mom’s birthday, still wondering what was wrong with me.  Mom called from work to say she was taking me to a doctor during her lunch break.  The doctor said I had to get to the emergency room as soon as possible.  I had an acute appendicitis.  The doctors at the hospital confirmed this diagnosis and soon were prepping me for emergency surgery. 

It all happened so fast and I actually wanted to have the surgery.  I’d never stayed in a hospital before except when I was born.  It seemed like a new adventure.  Still, I knew it was mom’s birthday and I didn’t want to ruin it.  Regardless, I had no choice in the matter.  I later learned the appendix probably ruptured as early as Tuesday.  The surgeon said my colon somehow formed a sac around the poison from the ruptured appendix and prevented it from spreading throughout my body.  Otherwise, it was likely I would have died.

Mom was allowed a final visit before my surgery and we talked briefly.  I could see the fear and concern in her eyes.  As the hospital staff began moving me to surgery I said,”Don’t worry mom.  I’ll be alright.”  She began to cry. 

I remember waking to terrible pain from the incision in my stomach.  Also, my mouth was terribly dry.  I also recall feeling a rash on my right leg.  I had an allergic reaction to something during surgery.  I remained in the hospital for six days.  My gastrointestinal system had completely shut down and I couldn’t leave until it was up and running again.  Also, they filled me with antibiotics all but the last full day in the hospital. 

I was never fat as a youngster but I lost 20 pounds during that week.  I had lost much strength and wanted a way to build it back up.  Days before my illness a lady contacted me about delivering newspapers.  I had done it before for a competing paper and planned to do it.  Once she learned of my hospitalization, she said she would wait until I was medically cleared to work. 

I neared the corner that would take me from Idlewhile Drive to Idlewhile Court.  I was cold, wet and angry.  It was my birthday and I hated the misery I felt.  I knew I was stronger than I was even two weeks before.  I was beginning to consider trying to get on the track team the following spring.  Yet, at that moment, I simply wanted to finish delivering papers to the remaining 20-25 homes. 

I look back now and remember hating that day.  I hated the stupid newspapers I vainly tried to keep dry.  I hated being out in the cold only to get wet and colder.  My mood was a dark as the blackness of that early morning.  Then I turned the corner and a house at the end of Idlewhile Court left their Christmas lights on.  They had a string of blue lights across the front of the house.  At that moment in my life I felt they were the prettiest sight I had seen.  Suddenly, the drudgery I felt that morning seemed worth it.  The Christmas lights relit the embers of my heart that morning.