Emergency appendectomy, Mine

On Friday I didn't feel well so I didn't eat a lot. I Went to bed early, I slept but uncomfortably. Saturday I got up and still has a dull pain in my lower right abdomen and thought> "that is probably my appendix".

I called the nurse hot line and she suggested I see my Physician, so I called the on call internal medicine physician and she asked me a bunch of questions. She then suggested I go to the ER.

The ER was a zoo. I got there at noon on Saturday and saw the triage nurse at 1:13 PM. I was roomed at 3:30PM and saw the ER Doctor at about 4:50. The did blood tests and a CT Scan of my Abdomen at about 8PM. THe CT Scan was emailed to Australia to be red, I am not joking, AUSTRALIA.

The CT results came back at about 8:40 and the ER doctor said "we are taking it out, I am contacting surgery"

EVERYONE in the ER touched my side, I mean everyone!!!! What the heck, the CT scan wasn't good enough? DId they just want to see me jump?

The On call Internal Medicine doctor has to come in for something else and she saw that I was admitted for surgery so she stopped by right as the anesthesiologist showed up. The nurse came in to say that my sister in law (also a physician) called to say "good luck!". At that point i guessed that getting the surgery was kind of a big deal. I decided that it wasn't gong to be so dramatic.

I moved up to surgery just as the football game went into overtime. I wanted the Cults to win, but alas, San Dog pulled it out in OT.

I was prepped and ready to go in a short amount of time. the doctor put a mask on my face and told me to count backwards from 100, by 3's. I mad it to 85, but that is because I kept pulling the mask off to talk about face book and my 15 year old son.

I woke up just before 11pm and was give an anti nausea medicine that worked really well. That and three hits of morphine! they said that if the pain was to bad they would give me demerol, but I felt fine so I declined. I was offered vicatine for the ride up to my room, but I still felt OK so I passed on that too.

It was after midnight when I got settled in my room, my nurse was a really hip guy with tattoos and piercings.

I recovered rally fast and passed on all the pain meds offered. I was cleared to eat ice chips,and then to drink water and by 6 am I was cleared for juice and at 6:40 I was cleared for some foods, and by breakfast I could get whatever I wanted, within reason. I had apple sauce and cream of wheat. I hadn't eaten in over 30 hours so it tasted really good.

By lunch I was cleared for any meal. SO I got a cheeseburger and a salad and some mac 'n cheese :-)

I was seen by the surgeon at 12 noon today to be discharged and was realeased a little after 2.

After 26 hours I am home minus my appendix. I feel pretty good and have only taken two Motrin for my shoulder which is sore from being kept at a funny angle during surgery.

Anyone want to see the pictures they took? I can post them!

Get well and feel free to post the picks

Also glad to hear you are better. Do post pictures!

It's been about 24 years since I had that experience. I was 9. I didn't bounce back quite so quickly, but then again I bet I've got a bigger scar than you, too ;). (medical technology and all...)

Keep getting better and trust me, you won't miss it a bit ;).

Clem

Glad it went well and that you listened to the advice you got.

Aussies for the win....Aussie aussie aussie lol

LOL OK I will scan the pics and link them. in a day or so...

ClemSparks wrote: It's been about 24 years since I had that experience. I was 9. I didn't bounce back quite so quickly, but then again I bet I've got a bigger scar than you, too ;). (medical technology and all...) Keep getting better and trust me, you won't miss it a bit ;). Clem

Feel Better. I had mine out for my tenth birthday. At first mom thought it was too much pizza and soda so we went about a day and a half without going to the doctor. The scar was about three inches long but is pretty much gone now.

Mine nearly burst last December. Doc didn't think he could get it out quick enough with the "3 little holes" method. Sorry, I'm not a doctor, I don't remember what it's called. I got the traditional cut with scar. I didn't bounce back quite so quickly, I didn't feel like eating for almost a week after, but I had been incredibly sick before, so I didn't want to risk it. Glad all's well with you.

Cool, you just improved your horsepower to weight ratio!

Laproscopically, doc_speeder. With an appy, you're probably as good off with just the traditional incision. It's probably about the same length as the 3 other holes they would have had to do.

So, Eric, what's the path? (Get us a copy of the pathology report.)

Rebound tenderness is really cool to observe. That's why everyone had to press on your belly. You press down and they lay there. You let up quickly and they levitate off the table.

Hess, you're a sick man. Cool, but sick.

Actually, I had to try the whole rebound tenderness thing on myself. It is really cool. Hurts like hell, but the concept is just so cool, I had to do it a number of times. Pretty sure that I've got the biggest scar that involved removal of the appendix, but they took the colon with it, so...

Glad to her that you're doing well, and have seen a speedy recovery.

So...did you keep your appendix?

Wow, very different from mine two years ago. I was suffering constipation, to the point of pain, and my wife talked me into going to the hospital after 3 days of moaning. They scanned and scanned, but could find nothing wrong. A surgeon finally came down to look at me and touched me on the right side, to which I screamed in pain. He concluded that the scans showed nothing because my appendix was swelled so large that it looked like an intestine on the scans. It was blocking my lower GI completely, and should have burst 2 days ago. I was in surgery within 40 minutes of his diagnosis. I have a BIG scar, and was in mucho pain afterwards. No movement for a day without serious pain, and it took three more days to release me. Waiting a week for a BM is not recommended.

The nurse asked me if my pain meds were strong enough, and I told her that I was already on morphene so there wasn't anything stronger. She laughed. Apparently, there are MUCH stronger drugs out there but thankfully I did not need them.

I didn't keep the appendix. It in now wherever my tonsils went 15 years ago.

I will post the pics in a bit, when I feel like going over to the scanner.

I will check with my wife's sister, she is a physician in town and has rights at the hospital she has already looked it all up on the computer, I will ask here about the pathology report.

Hell yeah pics! Then you can make a cool avatar like mine!

but it seems my avatar stopped working. What the hell?

I ask about the path because you lay people don't understand. 100 people get a whack by a surgeon with appy signs/symptoms. 2/3rds have a bad appy, 1/3 have a normal appy, by pathology. There's supposed to be a normal false-positive like that. If a surgeon has 100% bad appys, that is, everyone he whacks for an appy has a bad one, then he's missing a bunch of bad ones that didnt' get a whack. Likewise, if he only has 10% bad appys, he's whacking way too many people with a tummy ache. And you don't need a CT to diagnose a surgical belly. You can diagnose a "Oh shiite, roll him to the OR now!" belly with a CT, or a plain X-Ray, but whack or no-whack comes down to physical exam and history much more than the scan.

Then there's your gyn docs who just take out appys because they are in the neighborhood.

My Appy ruptured when I was 12. The doc cut me over 6 inches. In the room after recovery they gave me Demerol. about 5 minutes after that I started halucinating . I ripped the I.V. and drain out and was on my way down the hall but ass naked spewing blood from a torn incision. Another trip to the OR resulted in an 8 in. scar and me waking up strapped to a bed on the psyc ward- NOT in a good way and NOT reccomended. Needless to say I avoid anything stronger than Ibuprofen.

porksboy wrote: My Appy ruptured when I was 12. The doc cut me over 6 inches. In the room after recovery they gave me Demerol. about 5 minutes after that I started halucinating . I ripped the I.V. and drain out and was on my way down the hall but ass naked spewing blood from a torn incision. Another trip to the OR resulted in an 8 in. scar and me waking up strapped to a bed on the psyc ward- NOT in a good way and NOT reccomended. Needless to say I avoid anything stronger than Ibuprofen.

Am I an shiny happy person if I find this story somewhat funny? Perhaps it's the way you told it, or maybe I'm just a sick son of a bitch. Either way, sorry.

Either way, pain medication in general scares me. I can't take Asprin, Ibuprofine, or anything like them because I have some allergic reaction. Tylenol is all I can take unless I want to have all my joints inflame and feel like they want to burst, or die. Something to do with the Sempters Triad - berkeleyed up sinuses, crazy allergies, and asthma. I'm all berkeleyed up.

confuZion3 wrote:

porksboy wrote: My Appy ruptured when I was 12. The doc cut me over 6 inches. In the room after recovery they gave me Demerol. about 5 minutes after that I started halucinating . I ripped the I.V. and drain out and was on my way down the hall but ass naked spewing blood from a torn incision. Another trip to the OR resulted in an 8 in. scar and me waking up strapped to a bed on the psyc ward- NOT in a good way and NOT reccomended. Needless to say I avoid anything stronger than Ibuprofen.

Am I an shiny happy person if I find this story somewhat funny? Perhaps it's the way you told it, or maybe I'm just a sick son of a bitch. Either way, sorry.

Maybe, but somewhere the is a cell phone video my brother shot of me in ICU out of my mind on morphine talking to a tv controller

Morphine is the E36 M3!

Morphine is the E36 M3!

My scar made for interesting conversations in high school and when I was single. Unfortunately I dont dig the kind of chick who digs scars like that.

My scar made for interesting conversations in high school and when I was single. Unfortunately I dont dig the kind of chick who digs scars like that.

today it is my throat and shoulder that hurt. my throat because I had tubes down it during surgery and my shoulder because it was at a funny angle during surgery.

only one incision hurts, right below my belly button where the went beneath my stomach muscle.

Recovery is going to take longer than I wanted.