Experiencing Acute Appendicitis

I’ve had quite a few stomach bugs in my life, but none of them compare to the experience of having appendicitis and getting my appendix removed.  Since getting Salmonella in the Dominican Republic back in 2001, my stomach has been weak.  It seemed like every time I had a chemistry exam in college, I would come down with a stomach bug after taking the test.  A few times I landed in the ER first thing in the morning because I couldn’t keep anything down all night.  Each time, I was given medication to calm my stomach and an IV to rehydrate my system.  Sometime after my junior year of college, a friend offered me some ginger tea to calm my stomach and I became a believer!  Ginger tea is now a staple in my house.  At the first sign of any stomach upset, I make myself a cup and feel better almost instantly.  I do sometimes still get “sick” (ie throw up).  Once I start sipping on the ginger tea, my stomach seems to calm and I am able to get over the event much more quickly.

Two weeks ago it seemed my stomach stopped responding to the benefits it has always reaped from ginger tea.  At the first sign of pain in my stomach, I brewed a cup of tea.  This time however, the sharp pain in my stomach lingered.  I didn’t know what to do when my savior remedy did not work.  I figured I just needed to lie down and maybe some gas would work its way through my abdomen.  Unfortunately lying down was not much help either.  The sharp pain remained through a second cup of ginger tea and a few hours of lying down. 

One of the first thoughts that always enters my mind when I feel sick to my stomach is “I hope it’s not appendicitis.”  I frequently check WebMD and conduct other Google searches on appendicitis to compare my symptoms to the references.  In this case, I consulted the web again and thought it could not be appendicitis because my pain was not concentrating on the right side.  One thing that did worry me is that the right side did hurt when I lifted my right leg upon changing clothes and walking.  After 11 hours of pain we decided it was time to go to the emergency room.  I had only gotten “sick” once, but the pain was starting to be unbearable because I could not find a comfortable position.

Since we are new to the Cary, NC area, we had to look up where the closest ER was located.  At 9pm, we made our way to WakeMed in Apex.  The ER staff was extremely hospitable and got me in a bed within 30 minutes.  I would consider that a record!  Unfortunately, I still had pain and found I could lie a little more comfortably on my right side.  After a urine test and an exam by the physician assistant, I was hooked up to an IV and was told I would be in the ER for awhile.  The few horrible experiences in the ER included (1) having to drink a liter of liquid with contrast for my CT-scan, (2) having to get in and out of bed to be transported to WakeMed Cary after being diagnosed with acute appendicitis, (3) feeling the effects of the pain medicine and anti-nausea wear off while my information got transferred between hospital staff.

By 5am, I was at WakeMed Cary, highly sedated and pain free.  I was in and out of consciousness, only waking when the doctor, nurse and several anesthesiologists asked me to tell them what I was having done (a laproscopic appendectomy), when I last ate/drank (food at 7pm, IV contrast at 1:40am), and who my doctor was (Dr. Yerby – I only got that one right once or twice).  When they wheeled me into surgery at 10am, I was still semi-conscious, and only vaguely remember a mask being put over my face. 

Two and a half hours later, I woke up to the nurses getting my discharge papers in order.  I was still semi-conscious, wanting to go back to sleep, but they were ready to get me out of there.  I remember about half of the discharge orders and was glad they gave me written instructions.  By 1pm, I was resting comfortably in my bed at home, still feeling the sedatives from surgery with a prescription for 30 Percocets and a few days worth of antibiotics.

I was later told what was done in each of my incision sites.  The lowest one is the smallest site and the device that held the appendix during surgery went in that site.  The largest site, on the side of abdomen was cut on the left side because I am a “small” person and the doctor needed room to maneuver the probe that cut and pulled the pieces of the appendix out.  This site is stitched on the inside and is the one that experienced the most pain (apparently the procedure affected some muscle tissue).  The incision on the belly button was used for the camera to guide the surgeon’s work.  This scar is also small, but the area around the site is bruised.  Because I have a hernia on my belly button, the itchiness that I feel from healing is bothersome, but in an uncomfortable, and not painful, way.  All of the scars were covered in a glue-like tape substance that will come off on its own.  Since I had covers over the wounds, I was able to bathe and shower at my leisure.

The one good thing about having my appendix removed is that I never have to worry about appendicitis again!