Appendicitis

[icontrolyourworld]

Greetings ffr family and all who happen to see this post!

I just got out of the emergency room today after having my appendix removed, here's how everything went. On June 29th I was eating lunch with my dad, when suddenly I became very ill, it was within minutes of eating just half a sloppy joe. I became feverish and nauseous and was just on my 30 minute lunch break for work (i work from home for a credit union contact center). I called my boss and let him know that I could not continue work. Over the following days I continued to have nausea and my fever, however additional symptoms started to occur, I felt I had to vomit but never actually did, as well as a dramatic onset of confusion, I could not focus on any conversation or questions easily and would often forget what was said within seconds. With the onset of confusion I continued to call out of work as I would not want to try and deal with other peoples finances in this condition.

My confusion became the primary concern as the days went by and eventually went to Urgent Care to get checked on, 1 week after initial symptoms. The doctors did a covid test which came back negative and basically said to stay hydrated and return to Urgent Care (UC) or go to the Emergency Room (ER) if symptoms persisted or worsened after 3 days. I wanted to avoid going on the weekend as I assumed it would cost more, and would be busier; so I waited until Monday on July 11th. My symptoms worsened with time to a lack almost complete lack of appetite, and unrest after getting what is definitely enough sleep each night. I was also noticeably gassy burping a lot even though I had not eaten or drinken anything.

I went back to the UC on Monday at 10am to check in and let them know that my main concern was confusion still along with lack of appetite and unrest. They ran another covid test and again could not determine what was going on with me. The doctor was very firm and straightforward with this and strongly recommended me to go to the ER. The doctor at UC checked vitals and pressed on various parts of my body, I noted a slight discomfort in my abdomen on the right side. I was very reluctant to go to the ER due to knowing that even with the best possible insurance available it would likely still wipe out all of my savings. I told the doctor at UC this, and he told me to call my insurance company to check about coverage and again firmly told me to go to ER. I was confused why he could not help me at this point, and he explained that at UC they did not have the necessary equipment to obtain a diagnosis.

With great reluctance, I left UC and went home to try and eat 1 more thing before going to ER as I knew that I would likely be there the entire day. I arrived with my dad who drove me at 3:30pm at the ER the same day and waited in the waiting room until about 6:30pm. Once I was seen by the doctor I told him the same thing I told the doctor at UC and handed over paperwork for what they did at UC which the ER doctor noted was helpful.

One of the nurses at the ER hooked me up to an IV and was talking to me while pressing on various parts of my body similar to how they did at UC, this time mid sentence I noted a more obvious pain in my right abdomen but my main concern was still the symptom of confusion.The ER doctor wanted to do a CT scan of my head and see if anything showed up there. My dad being the legend he is,remembered a time when he was a kid with my uncle, and my uncle suddenly felt very ill while roasting marshmellos and my Uncle had a pain in his right abdomen, which turned out to be appendicitis; my dad insisted the doctor run a CT scan on my abdomen as well. The ER doctor gave me lots of water and noted that I was extremely dehydrated. We waited on the CT scan to come back, at around 10:00pm we got the one for my head back and they were getting ready to discharge me provided the gut CT scan was clear as well.

The ER doctor came back and had said there was an abnormality in my appendix, a completely dry stone, comprised of fecal matter was present. He had stated that my appendix was inflamed and infected, and when this comes up that it is common practice to have your appendix removed. I was shocked, and my dad was 100% correct to follow his hunch about having it checked. The doctor stated that it is almost unheard of that someone with appendicitis would not be in some sort of pain, anywhere from mild to excruciating immobilizing pain. I was lucky in this regard, and lucky that I had my dad with me to have said to check on it.

The ER doctor wanted to have my appendix taken out as soon as possible, so he called a surgeon that happens to work at multiple hospitals, I didn't have to be transferred across town, or wait multiple days to have the procedure done. Additionally the surgeon that would take out my appendix had also done a muscle biopsy on me a few years prior which helped diagnose me with calpainopathy; I was lucky to have an gotten the same excellent doctor in both cases, he is passionate about his job and has a great positive attitude, I knew I was in good hands.

They put me on antibiotics and kept me over night. On Tuesday at around 12:00pm I went in for surgery and was put on anesthesia and woke up at 2:00, it was like a blink of the eyes (just like my first time). I felt instantly quite better honestly, and my dad insisted I stay the night even though I wanted to go home. Later that night around 8pm the anesthesia was really wearing off, and that is when one of the worst pains in my life began to occur. All I could do is yell (which made it worse) in pain, and ask my dad to push the button to call the nurse. They gave me an ibuprofen which did absolutely nothing for me at that time. They wanted to wait 40min to an hour but I insisted on getting an oxycodone. They gave me one and the pain went from a 10/10 to a 2/10 for an hour. I fell asleep and woke up an hour later to use the bathroom. Since I have calpainopathy I can not typically get out of bed on my own easily under normal circumstances, so I had the nurse help me, he lifted me out of bed and I noticed pain coming back, even though it was a short time after having taken an oxycodone. The pain was worse than before, so I asked for morphine, they put it in the IV and within a minute my pain was back down to a 2/10 again and over about 5-10min I couldn't notice the pain at all. I spent the night at the hospital again. Wednesday (today) they went ahead with discharging me and prescribing oxycodone for the pain over the next few days.

If my dad was not there to insist on the CT scan I could have potentially gotten sepsis or died. We caught the appendicitis extremely early on before it was causing me pain which is very lucky, I anticipate I won't have any additional complications as a result. Appendicitis can apparently happen to anyone at any age and can be life threatening and extremely painful. All I can say is, remember your right abdomen if you have seemingly mild symptoms like I did.

Stay well everyone, I love you all and want to live long and hang out and have fun and enjoy life with you all

Sincerely,
IcyWorld/Nicholas