You know, when in the middle of our hectic lives we sometimes fantasize about taking like a week off and doing absolutely nothing but sleep, watch tv and read those trashy novels and magazines you just simply have no time to?

Let me be your warning example to be careful what you wish for. Because I got all of the above but with a slight caviat; my "week off" was be spent in a Chinese hospital with a burst appendix.

It all started last Sunday when I was feeling a bit under the weather but figured I might have caught the flu bug Raili had earlier in the week. As the day progressed, I became dizzy and my stomach was killing me but I figured a couple of Advils and some sleep would eventually burn it off. By mid afternoon I couldn't stand up without vomiting and I told David I was considering going into the clinic. Half an hour later when I realized I could not walk without hugging the walls, some self preservation kicked in and I told him we needed to go NOW.

We somehow got downstairs, inside a taxi and made it into the hospital in record time. At the ER, the nurse laid me down and started taking vitals. Two IV drips later I was whisked away into a CT scan when food poisoning and other easy explanations were ruled out. Once I got back to ER, the doctor examined my stomach again and told us she wanted me in the operating room immediately. She said she could not see the appendix in the scan but was not taking chances since my white blood cell count indicating an infection was considered critial.

Two and a half hours later I woke up in a private hospital room with the doctor and David by my bedside. The operating doctor told me my appendix had indeed burst and the "muck" had spread all over the stomach cavity causing a massive infection.

Later that night when I lay in the dark hospital room with all the monitors and machines beeping and hissing away, I felt like a science project. Needles enought to make a pincushion jealous, drips on both sides and drain tubes ready to trip anyone approaching the bed, I realized trying to tought it out may have not been the best idea in this case. Note to self.

So yes, I did get the week "off"  - so to speak - but have only gained slight mobility beyond my arms in the last day or two. The food isn't bad considering it comes up a straw and I did get some lovely gifts to cheer me up. One was a grand fruitbasket from my coworkers but got me crying. Why? Because it was lemons - Nothing says like "we care" than a basket of fresh lemons, right? I was trying not to laugh and bust a stitch or two but I couldn't help it and ended up in tears. Only in China...

It should be a day or two more and then I get to go home.