Appendicitis: My Story

Ok, so there are a lot of you who are wondering about me and what is going on since I posted this picture 

Well, let me tell you from the start. 

Thursday evening I got home from work around 9:30pm and started to feel some pain in my lower abdomen. It kind of felt like the start of a gall bladder attack, only lower (and impossible because I had my gall bladder out in 2011) so I just ignored it. It also kind of felt like period cramps because me and Aunt Flo were quite familiar at this point. (Yes there are going to be mentions to my monthly visitor and also poop). Anyhoo... I got out my sewing machine to start fabricating something for our car to mount some DVD players and one of my besties came over to pick up my play pen. I happened to mention to her that I had a "hurty tummy" but thought nothing of it really. I just thought maybe I had to poop. So, after she left, I finished my sewing project and off I went to the bathroom with a little success, but the pain was still there and getting worse. 

As I was putting away my sewing machine, I mentioned to Sean that I was in pain, and since he was playing video games I am not too sure he reaized what I was saying until I walked past him to go to the bedroom and lay down. I started moaning and groaning and he came in to see if I needed to go to the hospital. At this point it was about 10:30 and the pain was just getting worse, so I said, "yeah, ok, let's go in."

He started poking me and prodding me to see if it was my appendix and the (what I learned later was called) rebound pain was INTENSE!!!! So, off we went. Praise The Lord (PTL) for family in town because my father in law came to sit with the girls so my darling husband could come with me. 

I got into the hospital and got in almost right away. I had a student doctor, named Dr. Ko, who assessed me and right away was suspicious of my appendix. He game me some Tylenol and some little yellow pills that were supposed to help with nausea. Within 20 minutes the pain started to subside. Yay!!! 

Dr. McBane (the attending) came and also poked and prodded me. Again, she was VERY suspicious of my appendix and so she ordered me an IV and told me I couldn't have anything to eat or drink because I would probably need surgery. She also told me I would be staying in the hospital over night. Boo!! Sleeping in the hospital is miserable, but at least then I could have pain control. So they moved me to a back room of the ER and I tried I sleep. 

The pain quickly started to come back a long with the nausea and at the same part another person (who was EXTREMELY vocal about their pain) came in. I was in quite a lot of pain for about another 30-40 minutes until the most wonderful nurse came in and gave me some anti-nauseant and my very first ever dose of morphine. Mmmmmmmm. The pain quickly dissipated as did my ability to feel human. Narcotics are fun when things hurt, but dang do they make me loopy. I managed to get a few hours of sleep on and off just waiting to hear what the plan was. Around 6:30am I realized I needed to figure out a plan for my kids because I wanted Sean to come with me if I did need surgery. At this point everything was still up in the air because it was just "suspected appendicitis". 

I tried some friends and some babysitters but nothing was working out and then I thought to myself, "my friend A (name not given permission to use) may be available..." So I gave her a call around 7:30am and asked her if she could take my girls because the Dr. suspected appendicitis. She said, without hesitation, sure. Bring them on over. PTL!!!!!

I then called Sean to get him and the girls up so he could be at the hospital with me to hear the plan that was supposed to be coming around 8:00am. 

At 8:30am Dr. Ko and Dr. McBane came to tell me that I would be going to Red Deer by ambulance for an ultrasound and a surgical consult. At around 9:30am the EMS guys came to get me. It was cool, but also kind of scary because I had just gotten a half dose of morphine at 8:40 (I paid attention to the clock) and was still majorly loopy. We went into the ambulance and I was extremely well taken care of. I think the ambulance driver was going killer fast because I could feel us enter highway 2 around 10:00 that morning. By 10:30 I was at ultrasound in the Red Deer Hospital so at least they were extremely efficient. Lol.

Ultrasound took about an hour because I had a student looking around and then the real ultrasound tech, oh my goodness, she pushed sooooooo hard, and it hurt like no body's business, was looking around and wasn't sure what she was seeing. So, off she went to get the Dr. I was still loopy something fierce because I had a really hard time keeping my eyes open unless the ultrasound of death was going on. I think the worst part about it was that they would push soooo hard and then let go so fast that the rebound pain was blindingly painful. Lots of sounds coming from me during that procedure. 

The radiology Dr came in and he had his own look around (again with the rebound pain.... Uhhh) and they all three (dr, ultrasound tech and student) came to the conclusion that I had "very early stage appendicitis". Apparently it was so hard to tell because my appendix was still fairly small, and they are used to it being on the verge of bursting when they have to check. I guess in this case me being a huge weenie is a good thing....

Then I went out of ultrasound and back with the paramedics (EMS team for the picky ones) and by this time Sean had met up with us. Yay! We went into the hallway outside of the Red Deer ER. It was definitely an interesting experience because there were all sorts of EMS guys (and one woman) running around and one guy in an orange jumpsuit with cuffs on his ankles and wrists. (Eeek) 

At this point I started having some issues with low blood pressure. I am not sure how long any of this last bit lasted because the guys were fussing over me and putting my feet up and checking my BP every 5 minutes. I just wanted to sleep so that is what I did, and everyone just kept fussing. They decided to give me a second IV to get more fluids in me and I let the student give it a go. He missed, so the experienced EMS guy did the IV fast and painful and right in my elbow. :-( But at least I had another line and they were able to get my BP back up. 

Finally I managed to get a room in the ER to wait for the surgical consult and again, it seemed to take forever. I had a surgical intern come in and assess me (Vanessa) she was very sweet and gentle. She was the very first one to NOT test my rebound pain. Yay!!! About, what I thought was, 20 minutes later the surgeon came in and did his own assessment and confirmed appendicitis. My appendix truly did have to come out. There was no real idea of when it was going to happen though. 

I was still so tired that Sean went to run some errands and let me sleep. He got back in time for one of the nurses to come tell me we were going to have surgery...now. One nurse came in to give me some antibiotics and another one came in to give me some heparin. The thing about heparin is that it can't go into the IV and I don't like needles. She so lovingly lied to me and said it wouldn't hurt and me, being so gullible, believed her. LIAR!!!! It hurt something fierce, but it was soon over and then I was protected from blood clots. 

Eventually someone came to get me and take me down to pre-op and I met the surgeon. Low and behold it was exactly the same guy who did my gall bladder surgery. That made me feel great because he did such a good job the first time. Well, off I went to surgery and to onto the surgery stretcher and the lovely anesthetist put me to sleep. 

*side note, Thursday afternoon I did my nails with some jamberry wraps and EVERYONE loved them. If I was a consultant I could have made a year's wage just on the medical staff. They all wanted some, so I am going to leave them my jamberry lady's info. Lol.*

I obviously don't have any recollection of my surgery or post-op, but the anesthetist listened when I said I don't come out of anesthesia very well and she changed the recipe a little. 

I slept and slept. The nurses woke me up every 4 hours to do my BP and to give me some meds if I needed them. And they also helped me get up to go pee a few times. 

At around 5:00am I started to feel somewhat human again and have been actually awake since then. I feel better now than I have in almost 36 hours and my post-op pain is significantly less than the pain I was in before. I have a bit of a sore throat from the intubation, but ice chips do tend to help with that. 

It is now 7:15am on Saturday July 19th (happy 6 year anniversary babe) and I am awake, alert and starving. I haven't had anything to eat in over 34 hours except ice chips. Let me tell you, they don't do much for hunger. Sean will be here in about 2 hours and we will then be going home.

This is "Bob" he is my dancing partner and must come everywhere with me :-)

My sweet leg massager things that keep me from getting clots in my legs. 

Post-op. Going for my first walk. 

Thanks for reading my story and if you have any comments please leave them here because I won't be able to read the Facebook comments.