OT: Appendicitis

Very happy to hear you made it JR.

I read your scarey post just after returning from my Rotary Club lunch meeting where someone at our table told us that a club member's sister had died from appendicitis last week .... at age 41.

This in Boston, a world renowned center of medicine.

I'm glad your guardian angel wasn't taking a day off.

Jeff

Happened to a co-worker. Similar story. He said it was the most painful experience of his life. I think he was out for about a month for recovery. I think he cut it pretty close as well.

JW

Glad to hear you are doing ok. My dad went throught that (at age 64 in

Congratulations on making it. I had mine removed when I was young, although they got to it before it burst. I know it was really a sickening feeling, but I don't remember as much intense pain as you experienced. The up side is, after once, it doesn't have to be experienced again.

This would obviously be one of the things to have a plan for, while going off camping or some activity in remote locations.

WB ................

Glad you are alive. My wife's uncle died from peritonitis, which is what you have.

Welcome back, JR. Hope you are 100% soon.

No, he had a bit taken out. 99.8% is all he can be from this point on.

My wife went through this about 4 years ago.

Bad pains over the weekend, took her to the emergency room on monday, operated monday night, went home on wednesday. Bad pains again on friday, back to urgent care, CAT scan, raging peritonitis, 2 more weeks in the hospital with IV antibiotics, two drains into her abdomen, front and back, blood transfusion for low blood pressure and another CAT scan.

Yeah, real scarey.

Ouch!

I'm glad that you made it. Now -- get better at your own rate, so you can be in the shop again without problems.

Best of luck, DoN.

I had a very similar experience when I was in the 3rd grade. Went from bellyache to writhing and screaming in maybe 4-5 hours. I still remember how badly that hurt. Mine had ruptured, I spent 12 days in the hospital, sick as a dog, and a few more weeks at home after that. For 25 or more years after that, whenever my mother would run into the pediatrician around town, before he said hello, he would say "God was with you, Mrs A."

Glad you caught it when you did. Here's to a speedy recovery!

-AL A.

Let me add my congratulations on your escape from a serious life-threat, and my wishes for a full uneventful recovery. Now, for my questions: 1.) I have never heard of a preventive appendectomy. Is this done? 2.) I had always heard that the pain subsides if the appendix bursts. Is this not true?

AFIK, it wouldn't be an elective? procedure. My guess would be that there are certain situations where it might be done as a preventive measure. Crew on the space station, or other aerospace candidate.

Dunno about the pain.

WB ................

Mine was removed in 2003 after it burst. Yes the pain does subside after it ruptures, giving the false impression that improvement is imminent - it's not. The doctor told me that most women have the surgery before it breaks, whereas men usually arrive for surgery after it has already ruptured.

My pain was just as severe but it hadn't burst before the operation. It was bad enough that if the doctors had said I was beyond hope and they were going to shoot me I would have offered to load the gun.

Sounds like you are getting better, so get well and back to posting Bill K7NOM

My wife had a bad appendix. It was mis-diagnosed by two doctors. Finally, her gynecologist figured it out. He said she had to go in the hospital tonight. The next day he told me she would have died at home that night if she hadn't come in. They were not able to remove the offending organ that night because the infection was enclosed in a softball sized membrane. It had engulfed one ovary. They installed a drain and she lay in the hospital several days getting better. Per the doctor's advice the appendix was removed about six months later. To JR: I sure am glad you survived. It seems that many people die from appendicitis even today. ERS

I got an attack of kidney stones about 75 miles from the nearest hospital while on a fishing trip. That was a $1,000 ambulance ride.

It hurts so much, you think you are going to die, and afraid that you won't. I thought when something hurt that much, you just passed out. You don't.

Steve

Yeow, bad stuff.

Good to hear you got past it and that you're on the mend (as they say).

John

My wife had appendicitis when 8-1/2 months pregnant with our first child. First time I took her to the ER they didn't know what it was and told her to go home, use something like alka selzter for gas. We were back inside of 18 hours with the pain severely worse. They considered appendicitis but couldn't guarantee that that was what it was for some reason. This was 24 years ago. Said they'd open her up to see if that was what it was. It was. Had a drain in her for a while afterwards. What I remember most of the ordeal was the stench of the stuff coming out of her when I had to clean the drain and the fact that we were scared for the baby.

Lane

And how did the baby do?