Exploding Appendix!
In continuation to the Health section of my most recent post, I’ve decided to let you know what the last week plus a few days has entailed.
As you already know, I came down with constipation last Friday, overdosing on prune juice last Tuesday, diarrhea, gas, and finally feeling more human last Wednesday.
Turns out that I felt wonderful on Wednesday because my appendix ruptured sometime Tuesday night, and this relieved the pressure that I was feeling in my gut. Shortly after my post last Wednesday, I ended up taking a turn for the worst. I hopped in the bathtub, and soaked in a luke-warm bath that I was trying to make hot for about 30 minutes. Then I went to bed, and I’m pretty sure I moaned my way through the rest of the night.
For some horribly stupid reason, I went to work Thursday morning. I was feeling about as bad as I’ve felt since my last case of food poisoning, but I wasn’t throwing up. I really should have hit the ER Thursday morning. I managed to suffer through Thursday, and when I got home, I had some after-hours work to do. I expected to start it around 8 PM, and finish it long before 9 PM. 11:45 PM rolled around before I was done and shutting down my computer. I emailed my boss and told him that I was going to my doctor or the ER, whichever could get me in first thing in the morning.
The ER won that contest hands down, and I’m glad they did since they had all of the appropriate equipment to take care of me here at the hospital. I got to the ER around 10:45, got triaged right away, got into an exam room within 25 minutes, and started getting checked out. After some blood work, urinalysis, and questions by the doctor, I was headed to radiology.
Something on the films in radiology, and the fact that my white blood cell count was very high made the doctor have me sent for a CT scan of my belly. However, I had to drink this contrast stuff and wait 2 hours. I downed the contrast stuff as quickly as I could, and I was done with it by 13:18.
About 15:40, I was taken for the CT, where that went well enough, and then back to my room. From there, I was hopped up on some pretty good pain meds, but I still managed to call Kiara a few times to let her know that I was still kicking, but had no diagnosis just yet.
I was woken up some time later by Dr. Tracy (her first name, not her last. I never got her last name, but I do remember vivid green eyes that were very soothing to look into) who told me that I had appendicitis!
Well, now I knew what the problem was, and what the treatment was going to be. A specialist was called in, and it took him a while to show up, but he got there. He started arranging for an OR, and staff and such like that. I called Kim to let her know what was going on, what I wanted from the house, and then started calling family to let them know.
At 19:51, I was rolled into an OR, and was out fairly quickly after getting settled on to the operating table. I was told that the surgery took about 45 minutes (as was expected), and that the appendix had burst, and turned gangrenous. Uck. That means that it had burst several days before which the doctor and I figured out after comparing notes later on.
I’ve been on IV antibiotics since the surgery, and things are progressing well. The pain is getting less and less every few hours, and I’m able to move around a little more. Just a few hours ago, I managed to get my first shower in since Tuesday night, and that made all the difference in the world!
I was hoping to go home today, but that didn’t happen. I’ve been told that the goal is for tomorrow, so we’ll have to see how that goes.
I’ll try to keep you updated as things progress. I better wrap this up since my early dinner just arrived, and my digestive medicine has finally had a chance to kick in.
Maybe I’ll post tomorrow, but no promises.
