August 14, 2007 - What a surprise! Acute appendicitis!

Here's two pictures of me recovering from my surgery! Adalei was so good to keep me entertained while I rested. Misty was great at the meals. I didn't feel like watching TV or reading so Adalei and Misty really helped my days go fast. (It was really hard using two weeks of vacation time to recover from my surgery. Oh, well, at least I have a job.) See below for the details of what happened!














I became nauseated and my stomach hurt the night before. I couldn't sleep all night due to the pain. Nate wanted to take me to the emergency room but I talked him into letting me wait until morning so I could go see my internal medicine doctor.

I was on the phone at the doctor's office at 8 am with a 9 am appointment. I drove myself there as I didn't have enough time for Susan or Misty to get ready and take me.

After the doctor examining me, the nurse took my blood for testing and found that my white blood cell count was over 16,000. The doctor thought I had acute appendicitis. So he called an ambulance and made arrangements for me to be met at the hospital.

The ER doctor made the same diagnosis and I was admitted to the hospital around 11 am. I was on morphine from when I left the doctor's office so the pain wasn't too bad. Finally, around 5:30 pm, I was into surgery. At 8 pm, I was back in my room. (Room 442-1 at Southwest Washington Medical Center)

My surgery went well. The appendix was bad so removed. It had leaked so some fluid had to be suctioned from my abdomen. I have 3 holes - 1 through my belly button.

I came home on Thursday with 30 pain pills and requirements not to do anything strenuous or go back to work until I had Dr approval. I will see the Dr again next week for the post-op check up. I need to be careful for 6 long weeks. The hardest part will be not lifting Adalei.