Has anyone else had an appendectomy?

I had my appendix removed and spent the last few days in the hospital. The problem was trying to get in to the ER (waited 14 hours in the waiting room) and then once I got in the problem became convincing them my problem was greater than "stomach cramps". They were at first going to drug me and send me home. The problem was this was my second ER visit in 2 days, and my 5th ER visit in 2 years. The drugs that worked before didn't work this time. I asked for a CT scan w/contrast and even the nurse asked if I had this done but I had to convince the doctor. Luckily there were 2 doctors and the second one completely agreed. The test was done and they told me my appendix was the problem. Most of the nurses I talked to have had appendectomies. And none of them followed the myth that doctors always have told me and others that when your appendix is bad, the pain continues to intinsify until it ruptures. I guess I didn't appear to be in great pain even though I was hunched over and medicated and because in 2001 I had 3 other ER visits with the same pain they seemed to discount that my appendix was the problem. My Mother-In-Law went through almost the same thing with her appendix. Those ER visits consisted of few tests (not the one that shows your appendix is enlarged) and injecting me with anti-imflamitories that settled my appendix down enough until the next episode. I have a GI doctor that perfomed numerous tests and was mystified as to what could be wrong. But no one performed that one simple test that would have showed the problem until a few days ago. Thank God there are a few good doctors out there!

Has anyone else has thier appendix removed?

If anyone

Glad you are fine Sean. Welcome back.

To be honest, I performed a few appendectomy's... but still got my own.

Man, waiting 14 hours, that's not normal.

Didn't they looked with an echo? Should be the first step.

Yup,
My experience was similar to yours. Cronic Appendicitis that developed into acute. I had the problem off and on for about a year.
At the time I was in the US Navy on the USS Eisenhower (CVN-69). We were on our way home from a 7 month "Med Cruise" I had been to Sick Bay for the pain several times. They gave me some drugs and the pain went away. The night before we were to pull into Norfolk I passed out in the head (bathroom). I woke up laying between 2 stalls. I figured that wasnt too good so I started to make my way to Sick Bay, and passed out again.
Woke up in SB. Several Dr's standing around shouting, blaming each other for my advanced condition. I was too far gon to MediVac to shore. About an hour later They removed my appendix. Didnt burst, but was close.
Story gets better too. Since I had this infection, they decided I needed massive doses of antibiotics. Started getting them by I.V. and my temp started to soar. Seems that they neglected to look at my med records to see that I was alergic to Penicillin. It took a couple of hours to straighten that out. I was up most of the night. Very good drugs tho!
Gets even better...We were scheduled to dock at mid morning, but on the way over the Hampton tunnel, we slid into a freighter. Collision Alarm sounded and General Quarters announced. I was knocked from my feet and nearly trampled by people trying to get to GQ stations. No one hurt except me.
We finally docked about 90 mins later. I was determined that I was getting off of that ship! Took another 90 mins to get off the ship. I got 2 weeks sick leave and 2 weeks light duty.
My enlistment was up a month after that. Yes, I got out.
Appendicitis can be hard to diagnose but not usually. Cronic Appendicitis is really kind of rare. Best of luck to you and a quick recovery.

Hi Sean,

I hope you feel 100% very soon!!

Dan.

I hope you you feel better soon! Thanks for using my pics on your site!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I had mine out in 1952. I laid on a couch for two days with a pain in my belly. The village doctor was called and came with his satchel. He looked me over and told my parents to take me to the hospital. At the country hospital, the surgeon put on a rubber glove and stuck his finger up my, well you know where, and asked if that hurt. I let him know it damn well did. They wheeled me into the operating room and removed my appendix. It burst while being removed so they also removed a layer of fat that covered the intestine.

The most memorable experience was getting the anaesthetic. The nurse put a rag (or so it seemed to me) soaked in ether over my nose and told me to take a few deep breaths. I found it impossible. It was like someone putting a bottle of ammonia under your nose and telling you to inhale deeply. They had me strapped to the table but I had one arm free. I rose up as much as I could and screamed. She removed the rag, reassured me, placed it back and said take another breath. I passed out quickly, but while semi-conscious, there was a painfully loud buzz in my ears. Again I panicked thinking I would have to endure this during the operation. Fortunately I awoke one second later (or so it seemed to me) in my hospital bed minus my appendix.

Thanks everybody!

AlphaTea, I got IV-antibiotics too, I'm not sure what I'm alergic too and had a fever the whole time. They gave me several pain killers too. Morphine was given via IV and caused severe body pain for the first few seconds. When I told them this they would just give me a strange look like I was speaking a different language. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif


eluminator, you've got me beat by a long shot! One of my nurses said her appendix burst in the 3rd grade and it still took awhile for the doctors to figure out the problem.

Sean...you know Morphine is powerful stuff, maybe you were speaking a foregn language /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif


Anyway I think the pic in your Avitar is causing this page to load slowly. I know the one here is small but how large is the one it's linked to? I only ask because when the page came up it loaded about half way and then I watched while it loaded something from "Hometown.aol.com" (Or something to that effect) which is exactly where that image links to.

Thanks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I haven't had mine out, but like whistler, I've taken a few (took one 2 days ago out of a 1 month old /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ).

Appendicitis can often be difficult to diagnose, as it can mimic many other processes (this much more prevalent in women w/ their extra "stuff" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

I hope you're feeling better, and it's not uncommon to spike very high temperatures (say to 102 deg. F) after surgery - as the appendix is taken, a lot of inflammatory mediators are released, and can (along w/ the effects of anesthesia) drive up your temp. Surgical wound infection rate is pretty high after appendectomy, if the appendix was gangrenous or perforated, and approaches 50%.

the good news is that the pain goes away relatively rapidly - you should feel more like yourself inside of 10 days, and be back to normal by a month.

Did they remove it laparoscopically or by a single open incision? We do most of ours by laparoscopy these days.

Good luck, take it easy & surf the forums for a few days.

Sam

I had mine out and there wasn't anything wrong with it. Had all the symptoms, but they didn't know it was OK until they were already inside, so they took it out anyway. This was in the pre-ultrasound, pre-cat scan days when I was about 8.

I'm glad to be rid of it. One of the consultants I work with had his rupture last year. He went through the grief you've described, plus an infection that nearly killed him, and to top it off the insurance didn't pay for everything because he didn't get the proper referral to the ER.

[ QUOTE ]
Flotsam said:
Surgical wound infection rate is pretty high after appendectomy, if the appendix was gangrenous or perforated, and approaches 50%.


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Is there anything I can do reduce the infection rate post operation? I have nothing covering it. They don't care if I get it wet as long as I don't soak it. Seems odd to me. They take out my IV, put pressure on it until the bleeding stops and put a band-aid on it. Then they cut me open and remove the bandage right away. It seems odd that it's ok to leave it exposed, not like I'm rolling around in the mud or anything though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

[ QUOTE ]

Did they remove it laparoscopically or by a single open incision? We do most of ours by laparoscopy these days.


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How is it done laparoscopically? I think mine was done by single incision.


Here is a picture with my Arc for reference. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/poke2.gif

Sean,

Kul. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Did you offer your light to the doc? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif