A neeewwww scar!</Rod Roddy>

[reldnahkram]

Anyway, around 1 PM Tuesday (5/15), I started having some pain in my lower right quadrant. It wasn't serious pain, so I decided to wait and see if it got better. It didn't. I stopped at home en route to Third Tuesday gaming for Dr. Dad to give it a look, but I wasn't displaying any other symptoms, and he said to just keep an eye on it. My mother gave a warning story about her oldest brother, who had a big meal and then had his appendix out an hour later on the dining room table, or something like that. She later added that she hid under the bed for this entire process.

Anyway, the evening went by without incident. Sleeping was uncomfortable, but doable. Around 3 AM the pain was worst, and I phoned home for a consult. Again, it was decided to wait until morning to see what happened. I discovered that sleeping on my left side (which I never do) was the most comfortable position, and when I woke up ~7.30 I was in no pain at all, but as soon as I started moving around it returned. I phoned home again, at such time other doctors were consulted, and the decision was made to go directly to the ER. I did not pass go, I did not collect $200.

Driving would have been a poor decision, so my father came and picked me up and then we went all the way out to Paoli hospital, which is theoretically the closest hospital to my parents' place, but I'm not convinced it's any closer than Bryn Mawr would have been, but they know Paoli Hospital, so might as well.

The ER was quiet, and they took me in and put me in a room with a bed and I got one of those awful gown thingies and lay there and waited. The ER doc came in and poked my stomach a little bit, which hurt in exactly one place. Vitals were taken, insurance information given, blah, blah, blah.

Next on the agenda was a CT scan. Which was all well and good, except that these things need contrast. Thus I was tasked to drink 900 mL of barium shake. This stuff is nasty. It's really thick, tastes faintly of pina colada, and is completely unpleasant. Anyway, I get it all down and go in for the scan, during which they give me some fluid via IV that is some other indicator or something, but it goes right to my neck (Thyroid, I assume) and groin and feels really, really warm there. It was odd. CT scan goes off without a hitch and then all of this fluid which has been put into me, plus the quart of fluid I got via IV, decides to flush itself out all at once. Which really is a lot more pleasant than it could have been.

By now, it's about 10.30. About 1, we get the word that the CT scan isn't terribly conclusive (there might be a little inflamation around the tip, but it's not clear), and I'm not showing any other symptoms (nausea, fever, high white blood cell count). So the surgeon is going to come down and take a look at it and make a decision. Somewhere during this stage my mother arrives.

Around 4 the ER has steadily gotten busier and busier (they're on pre-divert, which I think means that they're telling ambulances to go elsewhere because there are no beds), so I get admitted to the OR. Which is to say they wheel my bed into the hall so that someone else can have my room. This is maybe 4. Still haven't seen the surgeon. A few minutes later, they come to wheel me up to my room, but it isn't quite ready yet, so they tell the volunteers wheeling me around to take five minutes getting there. I lie in the hall up there for five minutes or so, and then am wheeled into a corner room with no roommate. I win.

Maybe an hour later the surgeon shows up and says that the CT scan was clear as a bell and that my appendix is inflamed and needs to come out. However, several of the ORs have closed for the day, and there are fewer surgeons, so either he or his partner will get around to taking out my appendix when they're done with everyone else. Maybe 6.30 the other surgeon comes in and says that there are two surgeries in front of me and that as soon as one of them is done he'll go into the room and take out my appendix.

Probably about 7.30 or so they come to wheel me down to the OR, I talk to the anasthesiologist, answer some questions. I'm then wheeled into the OR, there's a mask over my face, and then I wake up in the recovery room. They give me a bit of morphine via IV, which has the same woozifying effect on me that it had last time I had morphine after receiving general. But there's less of both this time around, so it's not nearly as long lasting.

They eventually wheel me back upstairs to my room, I settle in with my book (I started rereading Cryptonomicrom and some pillows and an ice pack and some baseball on the TV (unfortunately, the hospital doesn't get CSN, but I get updates, which is almost as good). I read and doze and have my vitals taken, and maybe get some real sleep between 2 and 5.30, at such time the read/doze/vitals phase resumes.

Various nurses/medical assts/etc. say I'm to be discharged today (it's now Thursday), and around 8 I phone home with this bit of news, and my mother says she has some errands to run and will arrive around 11, which is fine with me. I get some chicken broth and jello for breakfast, and am gradually disconnected from the IV. MY mother arrives, we get some paperwork, I put some real clothes on, and go home.


So that's where I stand. There's a roughly 1.5" incision on my right side (according to the doc, I haven't seen it yet - the bandage can come off tomorrow) which can hurt lots, depending what I'm trying to do. I tend to be in the least pain when my torso is upright, but this is somewhat inconvenient for lying in bed, etc. It can be really stiff when I first get up to walk, but it loosens up a little bit. I don't quite walk like a zombie, but it's not normal either. And shifting positions in bed is just plain ugly.

But I'm in one piece, and presumably on the road to recovery. Discussions of visiting hours can begin tomorrow.

Comments

[uncleamos]

Zombie shuffle!

Glad everything's OK.

[wayman.livejournal.com]

At some point there was a message passed along that it had burst. Not the case, I gather (thank goodness)?

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

Absolutely not the case. Bad rumors, bad.

[uncleamos]

Brendan said it, I swear!

[miraling.livejournal.com]

Yay, glad to hear all's okay! My mom's appendix actually burst when she was a kid, so you join a line of distinguished appendix-less folks.

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

The eldest brothers of both of my parents are named Michael, and neither have appendices. Must be a first-born thing :)

[miraling.livejournal.com]

What about a M-name thing? My mom's name is Maxine, they're Michael, and you're Mark...

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

What's the status of Mar*'s appendices?

[miraling.livejournal.com]

Maybe they share one?

[wayman.livejournal.com]

Mine's out. W = M, just rolled around a bit.... Also, first-born.

[ccommack]

Aaaaaaah! No no no no! You cannot have my appendix! It is mine! MIIIIIIIINE!

[ccommack]

Good to hear you're doing even better than reports indicated. Let us know when the carefully-not-gawking-at-the-scar can begin. :-)

[sylvansafekeepe.livejournal.com]

I think we should buy Mark some kind of belly shirt so he can show off the scar.

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

Is that really what you want? My stomach is a pretty scary sight, even before the scar.

[ajacs.livejournal.com]

Glad things are okay.

[mst3kforall.livejournal.com]

Glad you're doing okay!

[aryky.livejournal.com]

Well, that's quite a story. You now officially remind me of mid-20th-century children's books - that's mostly where people get their appendices taken out in my experience ;-). Best of luck with the recovery!

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

Did you see the subject line on my original post?

[aryky.livejournal.com]

You skew a little younger than my memory, but sure :).

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

Most of what I knew about appendices before, say, Tuesday, I got from Madeline