“How to Train your Dragon” has a special place in my heart. I first saw it after being hospitalized for an emergency appendectomy at 19 years old.

At the time, I was a custodian at Walt Disney World in the hectic Spring Break season. In the midst of another 60-hour work week, I woke with a sharp pain in my gut. I thought it might be period cramps or a strained muscle from all the heavy trash I’d been pulling. But as I poked around, I thought through which organs and muscles were in the vicinity. I realized the pain was concentrated right about where my appendix might be. I called my dad, an RN, to ask him what appendicitis would feel like.

“Unbearable pain when you sit or stand.”

“Hm. I don’t think it’s unbearable, so it’s probably not that. Thanks! I’ll see if it goes away.”

I hung up, and he called me back, insisting I go to an emergency room. “Even if it’s not appendicitis, it could be a cyst on your ovaries or something else serious. You need to get to a doctor.”

Urgent Care

I lived in Disney College Program housing with no car, no family in hundreds of miles, and no friends with any means of transportation, either. I took a bus to an urgent care, only to find it had a 4-hour wait in the frenzy of tourist season. Thinking I didn’t have much choice, and feeling it wasn’t so bad, I tried waiting it out. There was a Chinese buffet next door where I could bide my time and have something to eat while I steadily worsened. When I finally could be seen, the doctor pressed around on my belly until I yelped. She declared she was waiving the fee for the visit and getting a shuttle to take me to the hospital. My appendix needed to come out immediately.

Alone at the Hospital

The whole ordeal was frightening. I signed pages and pages of paperwork, including a release for the anesthesia suggesting that I might go under and, potentially, never wake up again. Immediately after waking from the surgery I went into a panic attack for no clear reason. I eventually calmed down, but I felt much worse than I had before the surgery, woozy and unable to move at all without great effort. I spent the night at the hospital alone, occasionally checked by a nurse. She didn’t seem to think I was recovering fast enough. Especially when I almost passed out when she tried to get me to get up and walk around. The next day, I still wasn’t doing well, but they needed the bed for another patient. The hospital staff moved me out into the lobby to just wait.

Dad to the Rescue

I tried to be tough a capable through this whole thing, going so far as to tell my family not to worry and that I’d get it all figured out on my own. I’m glad they didn’t listen. Dad came straight home from work when he heard I was headed to the hospital and drove 19 hours from McAllen, Texas to Orlando, Florida. He couldn’t be there for the operation, but I was so relieved to have him there as I recovered. I only had three tiny incisions in my belly, so I couldn’t believe how debilitated I was.

We spent all of the first day holed up in the hotel room while I drifted in and out of sleep. On the second day, I was a bit stir crazy and ready to get out. So, we headed to the theater to watch How to Train Your Dragon.

I LOVED it.

The animation was gorgeous, and the music was so evocative. I felt like I could reach out and touch the gorgeous textures and smell the pines. I laughed at the look on Hiccup’s face when Stoick says “it was half of your mother’s breastplate,” but the laughing made my wounds ache. Somehow, that made it even funnier to me, and both Dad and I were laughing through tears.

Even though I love the character designs from movie 2 the best (which is why I chose to draw them for this piece), I only liked the first How to Train your Dragon movie. To be honest, movie 2 is the only movie that ever made me want to just walk out of the theater. I didn’t realize it at the time, but, looking back, I think watching Hiccup lose Stoick cut a little too close for me, when I associate this series with one of my fondest memories with my own dad, coming all the way across the country to be with me when I needed him.

About the Art

I sketched this piece many years ago—I don’t remember if it was for anything in specific. Initially, Hiccup was making a disgusted face, but someone mentioned they’d like to see him smiling instead. I harrumphed about the unsolicited feedback, but ultimately tried it out. The new expression makes the piece much sweeter…even if the first version feels more accurate. 😂 Hiccup definitely likes Astrid’s kisses better than Toothless’s.

Because this sketch was so old, I made quite a few changes when I finally decided to paint this piece. Check out the comparison below to see how it evolved!

Hiccup, Astrid, and Toothless are from the movie “How to Train your Dragon.”
Illustration © CallyAnn Hamilton.