appendicitis - the long story

Tuesday night (Nov 3rd) as I was eating supper, my stomach started to hurt. I had a thought that I probably shouldn't eat any more, but after a few minutes I did finish up my corn on the cob. I laid down after supper to see if it would get better. It didn't hurt too bad, but wasn't comfortable. At some point I took a fake Tums but it didn't seem to help. I was also feeling just a little nauseous so I got Matt to get me some fake Pepto (there's a theme here, I think). I kept thinking that things were going to get better, but it just kept hurting. The pain was under my ribs in the center. I had a little tenderness in my lower right abdomen at points, but nothing major and not nearly what was up in the center.

As it got later, I began to be more concerned. However, since everyone knows that I can be a bit of a hypochondriac, I didn't want to worry too much about it. As it kept getting worse, I decided to look up abdominal pain online to see what I could find (yes, I like to self-diagnose - or be informed - however you want to look at it). I didn't even stay long enough to look at any possibilities because I was just too uncomfortable. Since at least 10:00, I hadn't been paying much attention to the tv show that was on. It was my distraction, but it wasn't working so well anymore. I was starting to feel more "funny" as well. I decided to take some ibuprofen to see if that would help. By the time I got Matt to go get it, I decided to take one of my 800mg ibuprofen from my c-section.

That was about 10:55. I had decided that I would give it about 30 minutes to see if it would help. If I was still in the same amount of pain, we would call Mama and head to the hospital. My pain, however, continued to get worse. About 11:10, I told Matt that he needed to go ahead and call Mama so he could take me to the hospital. I was hurting pretty good by then. The pain was still just under my ribs in the middle. I was also beginning to think that my "funny" feeling was a blood pressure problem. I was also feeling a bit more nauseous. When Mama got to our house, we gave her some info about the kids and then headed out.

I think it was probably 11:45 or so when we got to the hospital. When we walked into the ER waiting room, I told Matt that I couldn't stand at the desk to sign in and took a seat. I was hurting pretty good and was glad to see that there weren't too many people in the waiting room. Once Matt got me signed in and such he came back to sit with me. A couple minutes later, one of the receptionist people came over to get me to sign something (I think - this part isn't entirely clear). I asked her if they could check my blood pressure. She said that she could and pointed us across the waiting room where a little portable machine was sitting. When she checked it, my bp was 90-something over 50-something. She told us to wait there.

After sitting for a few more minutes, a nurse came to get us to take us to the triage room. She asked questions about my pain (I told her it was a 7 or 8 out of 10) and my health background and such. She also tried to take my bp. It took four times before the machine could get a reading. When it finally did, it was 80-something over 60-something. While she was getting everything put in the computer and such, my pain lightened significantly. I told Matt that I didnt' want to move if it was feeling that much better sitting there. Once the nurse got things taken care of, she got a wheelchair and took me to a room.

By the time they got me settled and checked my bp again, it was back up to 110-ish over 60-something. It soon went on up to 120-something over 70-something. A little bit after we were settled, the nurse came in and brought me some pain meds and anti-nausea meds. I told her that I didn't need either one of them. I was feeling SO much better. I told her that my pain was about a 2 out of 10. It was really the weirdest thing - and I was starting to feel a little dumb for being at the ER. She did, however, go ahead and start an iv to give me fluids. Three cheers for her - she got it in the first time, quickly, without moving it around. Nurses often have trouble getting an iv in my hand, so I was very thankful for a job well done!

Eventually the doctor came in. I have no idea what time that was. She said that my presentation was the weirdest thing. She didn't have any explanation about what it was and was baffled by the sudden ending of the pain. After she had been gone for a while, a Tech came in and told me that she was taking me for a CT scan. That was news to me, so I asked her what they were looking for. After she went and asked, she said that they were looking for renal stones. We did the whole CT scan thing and went back to the room to wait. They said that it would be about 45 minutes before they would hear anything from the radiologist.

Once the doctor came back in, she said that the CT scan had shown that I had appendicitis. She said that it was very clear to the radiologist that's what I had going on. So, she said that the surgeon would be in between 6:00 and 7:00 to talk to me about the surgery that I needed to have. I asked her if there were another option. She said that there wasn't. I was not real thrilled with that option since I didn't want to have surgery. Honestly, my biggest concern was nursing. I knew that I didn't really have much stored up and that it could cause long-term nursing problems. We called Mama to let her know that we wouldn't be leaving the hospital any time soon. I think that was probably around 3:00. The nurse started me on two rounds of iv antibiotics to help with the infection.

Somewhere around 6:30, the surgeon came in. By the time he got there, I had decided that I was ok with the surgery. I didn't want to do it, but we would do whatever needed to be done. When he came, he told me that he thought that it was likely that my appendix had perforated (the nice word for ruptured) and that was why my pain had suddenly stopped. That made sense to me. He said that if it had, they would have to put a drain in and I would have to stay in the hospital for several days and would probably go home with the drain. If not, I could go home sooner. He also said that it was possible that I had Crone's Disease. However, he sounded pretty sure that he was going to find a perforated appendix. So, that's what we were expecting.

They went ahead and immediately prepped me for surgery. They didn't waste any time. Nobody was running around crazy, but they got me ready and wheeled me down to the pre-op area to talk to the anesthesiologist. I made sure that he knew that I was nursing in case it mattered what drug(s) he used. He said that what he would use would be safe for nursing. After talking for a couple minutes, Matt headed to the waiting room and they took me to the operating room. In the operating room, they moved me to the operating table and went to getting things ready. Before long, I noticed that the anesthesiologist put something in my iv. He hadn't told me that he was putting me to sleep, so I didn't know what it was. After a minute, the lights on the ceiling started wiggling...and that's all I remember.

When I woke up in the post-op room, I remember having a hard time thinking. A nurse checked on me and then went on to other things. After a little while, she asked if I wanted any pain medicine. I agreed to take some and asked if she knew the results of the surgery. She said that the doctor had told Matt and he could fill me in. She did, however, tell me that I did not have a drain in. After I was good and awake and a room was available, they moved me into the aisle area to wait for the transport person to take me to my room. While laying there, I realized that I was right next to the surgeon so I asked him how things went. He told me that my appendix had not been perforated and that things had gone well.

After they got me situated in the hospital room, Matt took a nap and I rested. Of course, the nurses kept checking vitals and such. I wasn't in too much pain, so I didn't take any other pain medicine. There was still talk of me being able to go home that afternoon/evening, so I didn't want to have a bunch of drugs in my system. And honestly, I really wasn't too bad off. They told me that the surgeon would not be by but they would call him to see when I could go home. Surprisingly, he showed up in my room a little while later. We discussed how things went and what I needed to do after going home. I asked him why he thought my pain stopped since my appendix had not perforated. He said "you were lucky". Matt says it was because God didn't want me to be in pain for 8 more hours.

The surgeon was sounding like I could go ahead and be discharged until he checked my heart rate. He said it was too fast. He wanted it to be down under 100. I asked him if it might be up because I had been on my feet for about 15 minutes. He sounded doubtful, but said that I could go home whenever it was under 100 - whether that be that night or the next day. So, I set about relaxing so that it would come down. Eventually, it did - only to about 95, but that qualified. :)

So, that's my appendicitis story. I have recovered rather quickly. Thursday, I was pretty sore and took pain meds twice. Friday, I was much better off and didn't need anything. Thankfully, I have had some great help. My mom on Wednesday, Matt's mom Thursday through Saturday morning, and Matt the whole time. At this point, I can get around pretty normally, but I'm still not picking up Sara. I certainly don't want to cause additional problems by picking her up too soon. Oh yeah, we have also had to find a new position for nursing to keep her off my abdomen. She seems to be doing fine with it, though. And...until today, I was on a soft food diet. It wasn't too bad, but I was getting tired of not having much variety in food.

I guess that's it. Story told. Ignore any grammar or spelling mistakes - I'm not rereading it at the moment.