Appendectomies are fun (Kefit goes to the hospital!)

[Rebirth0]

What went through your mind when you were being wheeled to the Surgery Room? Did you have any fears?

Catheter...ouch. I would hate that more than anything, surgery would be nothing compared to it.

[whorlichan]

Damn Kefit...I feel awful for you. Does it make you feel any better that the catheter they put in you was designed by Tass's grandfather?

I was in the ER a little while back for girly problems...and I didn't need to have surgery (and they won't do the only one I WANT) so I was pretty much the last thing on their list. Be glad they came in at all...I waited over 2 hours between each nurse visit, and closer to 3-4 from nurse to doctor.

Hope you feel better soon!

[Tasuke]

I have been truley curious abut the appendix since 6th grade basic anatomy classes.
What the f*ck does it do?! I kinda want my appendix out, well, I did until i read
about the painful-sounding penis-tube thing. I'm not looking foward to it so much anymore.

[sleeplessdragn]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermiform_appendix

The first usage I learned of this organ was in the digestion of raw meat. Because we have learned to cook our meat our appendixes have grown smaller than most carnivores.

I'm sorry you had to have surgery; I myself personally have never been inside of an emergency room, and I am thankful for that. Hope you feel better as quickly as possible Kefit.

[Saturos]

I don't think this tops you needing a catheter *shudders*, but last year, sometime in January, I went in to get my appendix removed. I was up the entire night before lying on the bathroom floor in excrutiating pain while puking every 30 mins or so. My parents decide that I'll be ok until the morning when they are awake enough to take me to the hospital, since they are firmly convinced it's just my appendix.

Well, after that horrible night, we arrived at the hospital in the morning. We reached the emergency room door when I decided I had to puke again. Once inside, I went through the same routine as everyone does at the hospital for this sort of thing (the questions, gown, etc.). After blood tests and two hours of waiting, the doctor comes in, takes one look at my stomach, and is sure that it is just my appedix. An hour or so later, I'm opperated on and released with no complications.

It was soon after the surgery and I was actually able to listen consciencely that I didn't have appendicitis at all. Instead, I had something called Meckel's Diverticulum, something that happens in only 1 in 100,000 people. What this is basically is a grow on your small instestine that eventually becomes infected and swells up. So now, instead of having 3 small holes from lapariscoptic surgery, I now have two small holes and one 4 inch one. My appedix was also removed 'while they were in there.'

Because I now had part of my small intestine removed, I had to be laid up in the hospital for a week minimum. Oh what fun that was.

My body would not accept any of the heavy duty pain killers such as vicoden or morphine, so I was living off of Tylonal for that week. To make matters worse, on the 5th day after the surgery, the doctor was still not hearing bowel sounds, which propting having a tube put down my throat to my stomach until I could have bowel movements again.

Here's the fun part; the tube they put down my throat actually coiled up, so I was left in more pain now than the night before the surgery that I spent on the bathroom floor. Of course, when I told my parents, nurses, doctors, etc. that the tube is coiled, none of them believe me and think I'm just making a scene to get attention. Eventually, I could barely whisper anymore from the tube rubbing the inside of my neck constantly. I did, however, swallow often enough to make the tube uncoil at the night of the 6th day.

Finally, on the morning of the 8th day, I was having bowel movements (finally) and eating again, so they sent me home, where I was out of school for 2 more weeks.


Oh well, enough about me. Glad to see you survived your horrible experience at the hospital better than I did. ;x

[Kefit]

Yes, a catheter sucks. But it really isn't THAT bad. Your story is far, far worse, Saturos.

On a side note, before the surgery I expected to be up and about today. Well, now that today has come about, I will be surprised if I am able to leave my house before Friday. I don't feel tired or sick or anything, but my stomach just loves to engulf me in nasty pain whenever I get up or sit down or walk. I really hope this pain begins to die down soon, although so far it has shown no signs of doing so.

[Tps222]

I have only had surgery once, which was on my elbow. I pretty much shattered it, and they had to do some re-constructive surgery on it. 3 pins and 3 hours later I remember waking up, it was cool though, 2 days of morphined up sportscenter isn't too bad. It sucked when they had to take the pins out. Now, these pins weren't pins like needles, they were more like cylinders the width of your index finger. They made a 'x' formation in my bone, to hold the joint together. They took phillips plyers (sp?) and twisted and tugged them out of my arm, which greatly hurt twice, the blood looked purple too, it was weird. Luckily, I can still play all sports, and have only broken 5 other bones. At least I didn't need a catheter.

[xObserveRx]

A catheter isn't neccesary when you have an appendic operation. The reason he needed the catheter was because he couldn't urinate. Had he unrinated the first time, the catheter wouldn't have been in the story.

Also, I'm sure he could tell you that the pain before the operation was much worse than a catheter. I've personally never had a catheter, but i'm sure it's not as bad as people make it out to be.

On a side note, I don't think it's actually a mask on your face that knocks you out before an operation. I'm pretty sure its just the fluid they insert into the IV, that you may or may not notice. I've never had an operation where I've had a mask put on my face to knock me out. I've had 3 operations, and each time fluid was inserted into my IV, in which the following 4- 10 seconds were an amazing high. So yeah, exactly WHAT is that mask for? does anyone know?

[Kefit]

Actually, the preoperation pains generally weren't that bad. They would rise up to points of being completely excruciating, but they would then fall to quite bearable levels, where they would spend most of their time.

And yes, I had a catheter because I couldn't urinate. Although it was not a pleasent experience, leaving the urine and pressure in my bladder would have been far worse.

[Saturos]

On a side note, I don't think it's actually a mask on your face that knocks you out before an operation. I'm pretty sure its just the fluid they insert into the IV, that you may or may not notice. I've never had an operation where I've had a mask put on my face to knock me out. I've had 3 operations, and each time fluid was inserted into my IV, in which the following 4- 10 seconds were an amazing high. So yeah, exactly WHAT is that mask for? does anyone know?

You are correct.

Infact, the hospital I go to has a completely different way of knocking someone out. When I had my surgery, they, of course, had an IV in me, which was the source of what knocks you out. What was different was that, instead of a mask, they put warm, moist towels over your face/shoulders/arms to more or less calm your nerves and ease you into a sleep, instead of you worrying about the surgery causing you to be nervous and keeping you awake and active longer. It's also supposed to keep you under longer, with a lower risk of waking up during the surgery.

That was the nicest part of my week there. ;x