Hey, folks. About two weeks ago I had an emergency appendectomy, following a couple weeks of abdominal trouble. The surgery itself wasn't a big deal and I was amazed that I was admitted to the hospital at 5am, had a diagnosis by 11am, and was discharged in the afternoon, around 4pm, I think.
Upon reaching the hospital, I believed it was either an intestinal blockage or appendicitis. The doctor suggested it could be kidney stones. In retrospect, I'm tempted to have preferred the kidney stones, as at least that way, I would have been in pain for only a couple days.
Before the surgery, I wasn't in much pain, but extremely uncomfortable. The worst part was the anxiety about going under anesthesia, but I actually don't remember anything after they wheeled me into the room to get my sedative injection to prep me for knocking me out. I was actually curious about "counting down from 10 and making it to 8," like some other people have described, but all I remember was being surrounded by nurses, and then everybody was gone. I was looking around and wondering where everyone had gone, only to have someone point out that the surgery was done, and I had three holes in my belly -- all sealed up with glue (since they apparently don't use stitches anymore). Wow. Modern medicine, huh? Oh, I also had a horribly sore throat and my voice was shot, but IRL I don't talk much, anyway.
Following the surgery, I felt terrific with no pain from my incisions at all... for about two days. Then pure hell began.
They'd hopped me up with antibiotics in the hospital, but it was clear my body still had to fight off whatever infection killed my appendix to begin with, and it's been absolutely non-stop, unrelenting pain for a full week, until about two days ago. I mean, real, serious PAIN. Imagine the worst gas pain in your intestine you've ever felt, to the point where you feel like a over-inflated truck tire ready to go nuclear at any second, and multiply it times at least five. The worst pain I've ever felt was a horrible leg cramp that was so bad, it felt like my leg was tearing itself in two, and it gave me a bad bruise. That lasted for about five minutes. The pain I've endured this time was just a hair under that, and it lasted for a full week... and that was with my pain killers. During that time, I think I got an accumulated total of 10 hours of sleep.
The pain has mostly subsided, but I'm still pretty sore, and have only recently started back on solid food. I'm okay now, but... wow. That was absolute misery. A big shock, in particular, because I eat well, exercise every day, and have perfect blood pressure and chemistry. I'm as healthy as can be. Yet, anything can go wrong at any time, and very suddenly.
I was tempted to go back to the hospital a few times, but I knew there really wasn't anything that could be done other than keeping up with Oxycontin.
Alas, there's more to this story, as my CT scan shows that I have a birth defect in my gut that will likely require more tests and surgery, but I don't think that's something I want to put on the Internet. They did some "extra" stuff to me in the hospital to correct the immediately serious stuff. In the short term, I have a colonoscopy scheduled in another week. Yay, regular colonoscopy screenings. I guess that means I'm now officially middle-aged.
I'm not normally one to whore for attention, so I'm not sure why I'm writing this. Maybe it's because I've been recovering at my parents' house for the last few weeks and I'm bored out of my mind. Maybe it's because I'm miserable and depressed from sleep deprivation but can't do anything to pass the time.
When you're healthy, it's hard to relate to what other people who are genuinely sick have to go through every day. Sure, we all occasionally get the flu or food poisoning or something, but... this is just different. I've finally had my first, real surgery, and felt true pain. I mean, REAL pain that just lingers and doesn't let up.
I'm getting better, and in a few weeks I'll probably be back to normal. But, man, I'll never take my health for granted again. Bodies don't come with warranties.
