As I woke up that day, I didn't expect anything out of the ordinary to happen.  I was only 7, so the details aren't very clear, but I think it was a Sunday, just before the end of my first grade year.  Never would I have expected such severe pain as I felt when I got out of bed.

My parents knew that I tended to exaggerate pain, so they thought little of it at first.  When they saw that I hadn't moved from the spot on the sofa where I laid down for hours, though, they began to worry.  The next day, they asked me how I was feeling when I woke up.  I told them that I didn't feel any better.  At this point, though the pain was so bad that I could hardly walk, they took me to the hospital.

I went through the normal registration at the hospital, and was soon getting an x-ray taken.  As it turned out, I had a double hernia in my abdomen.  My first-grade self didn't know what any of this meant, of course.  What it ended up amounting to is a return to school the next day, my parents having gotten me a new game for my Game Boy, and not being able to go outside for recess.  My parents finalized the details of my operation, not being able to schedule a date until the end of that week.  The next two days were similar to the first, going to school, but being unable to go outside at recess.

Finally, the day rolled around when the pain would stop.  My operation was scheduled for late in the morning, and I remember being unsure about what was going to happen.  The knowledge that people are essentially going to cut open your torso is not a fun one.  To prevent the anesthesia from causing an adverse reaction and making me sick, I couldn't even eat breakfast.  I can't imagine how my parents must have felt while I was unconscious during the operation, or in the hours that followed it.

Despite any preconceptions of mine, or frets of my parents, I eventually woke up.  I remember feeling very queasy and my legs being very numb when I woke up, now understanding why I wasn't allowed to eat prior to the operation.  The orderlies brought me my clothes, and, as I got dressed, I could see where the surgeons had cut me open.  After I had dressed, I was wheeled out of the hospital in a wheelchair.  I was allowed to get whatever I wanted to eat after we left.  Surprisingly, I fully recovered very shortly afterwards, feeling much better nearly immediately after leaving the hospital.  As far as I know, there have been no long term side-effects of this operation either, aside from the now nearly invisible scars on my torso.