Williams Sonoma Quick Gingerbread Spice Bread & Appendicitis

So if you’ve been following my twitter, you might know that I spent last night in the hospital for the first time of my life. On Saturday night around 9PM, I started getting really bad abdominal pains. It started out around my navel so I thought a little Advil would cure the problem. I took some and then slept for about 2 hours before I was awakened by even more stomach pains. I stayed up til about 5AM tossing and turning, even vomiting three times before I was able to sleep for another 3 hours.

I was up by 8AM and the pain was still there. Weird, right? A simple stomach cramp does NOT last nearly 12 hours. Now, it had moved down to the lower right side of my abdominal; My left side didn’t hurt at all. After a little googling, I diagnosed myself with possible appendicitis. I told my mom and she took me to Urgent Care at about 10AM.

I saw the doctor and he poked around my abs for a bit and asked a couple questions. He said it could have possibly been appendicitis, and if so, I was in for a long day. My mom and I weren’t going anywhere, so we told him to do what he had to do. Little did I know what I was really in for.

I was sent to get my blood drawn, take urine tests, and then finally for a cat scan. For the cat scan, they made me finish three bottles (nearly one liter) of this nasty thick drink. I had one hour to drink all three of them because that’s how long it takes to go through your intestines. The purpose of the drink was to coat the insides of your intestines so it shows up better in a cat scan. Let me tell you, it is seriously one of the nastiest drinks ever. Sure, it kinda tastes like cake batter, but it was so thick that you would want to gag after one sip. Here’s the nasty chalk drink:
They also pumped iodine through me so that my body would show my veins and arteries clearer. After the cat scan, it was confirmed.. I had appendicitis. My appendix was 9mm when it was supposed to be 6mm. So then, the doctor got the surgeon to come discuss my options with me. She asked me a couple of questions and came to the conclusion that I could have appendicitis, but it’s still too early to tell for sure. It could be something else, like a cyst on my ovary because they have the same symptoms. I could either A: have the surgery and just take the appendix out, while having her check out my ovary at the same time in case the appendix wasn’t the problem, B: have them monitor me at the hospital to see if my conditions get worse and then have the surgery, or C: go home and then come back if I feel worse for a surgery. The way I saw it was that I was getting a surgery either way, so I’d rather have it done ASAP. That was it– she scheduled my appointment for 6PM that same night (yesterday). Here’s me and my momma just prior to going under the knife. My pops and boyfriend also came to support me (poor boy, it was the same day as our two year anniversary!).

I chose to have a microscopic surgery, where they do three little incisions rather than one huge one. They put me to sleep and the next thing I knew, everything was done. I was rather droopy and had to stay overnight at the hospital so that they could monitor me. They pumped me with an IV throughout the entire night and I was already walking at midnight. My doctor told me that it was definitely appendicitis, and she could tell during the surgery because the base of it was all inflamed. My surgery went very well and luckily, I was able to be released the next morning.

The doctor won’t let me work or go to school since I have to have time to recover. Apparently recovery time is two weeks. Ughhhh. So I’ll be stuck home blogging whenever I can (I’ll also be updating all my NY eats at my other blog, The Darling Foodie). This is where the quick gingerbread comes in. I was actually craving dessert and knew that I didn’t have the strength to completely make something from scratch, so I used a mix. My brother, being the nice brother that he is (he’s 16), saw me about to bake and offered to make it for me so I wouldn’t stress my stomach so much from all the stitches (it’s so hard to sit up and down!). He was so worried for me during my surgery and was waiting at the door for my parents to come home to fill him in on how it went. How sweet is that? I also came home to balloons and a card from a my little sister. I have an amazing family, it’s true. 🙂

My brother doesn’t bake much, so when he started pouring the mix into a bowl, I asked him why he didn’t use the mixer. His answer? “The directions say to mix it with a wooden spoon.” Hahah, how cute is that? Anyways, the bread was made and I made the glaze to top it all off. It was very gingery and cinnamon-ish. Perfect for this rainy day! Here’s the recipe for the glaze from the back of the bag:

1 cup of sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tablespoons milk

Whisk all the ingredients together and drizzle over cooled bread. Let it harden for an hour before serving.