My cell phone has this annoying habit of not ringing very loudly. I set it for its highest sound setting, but it never seems to stay there, even though I press save. And, last Friday was no different.
Hubby got a call a little after 8am and I heard him say, “It will take me 25 minutes to get there, see if Cioc can take you.”
My ears perked up, and I sat straight-up in my chair: there was only one person Hubby would be telling someone to “call Cioc”, and that was Sonny-boy.
As soon as Hubby got off the phone, I asked him what was up. He replied, “Sonny-boy thinks his appendix may have burst, and he needs a ride to the hospital.”
I looked at Hubby, ran upstairs to my phone, and sure enough, I had missed three calls. I immediately called Sonny-boy back, told him I’d be there asap, and to call my sister back and tell her she didn’t have to take him to the hospital.
I made that normal 40 minute Friday morning rush hour drive to Sonny-boy’s place in 23 minutes without speeding (much). There was little traffic (absolutely unusual), and I made every light once off the expressway. He walked outside to get in the car, and my worry receded a bit – I told myself if he was walking upright, he couldn’t be in that much pain.
We got to the hospital 10 minutes later, and I dropped Sonny-boy off at the emergency room to begin paperwork while I parked the vehicle. He was taken in shortly after he finished his paperwork, given some medication for his pain, and a CT scan an hour later to determine exactly what was wrong.
The CT scan results came back as an inflamed and infected appendix, but not a burst appendix. He would nevertheless be having surgery in a few hours.
That “few hours” turned into the last surgery of day, and our before-9am-arrival seemed but a distant memory when he was wheeled back to his room from surgery at 11:15 pm. It wasn’t that the surgeon wasn’t ready – he had been waiting since 5pm for the room – it is that even though there was a nice, new hanger-like emergency room at this hospital (really new, the wing only opened the week before), there were still only six operating rooms and he was an ER walk-in who was in no threat of dying without emergency surgery.
So what started this? At 4:30 am Sonny-boy woke up with a horrible pain in his lower right side. He tried to drink water, and threw that up. He thought maybe he had gas, so tried Maalox, and threw that up. The nausea, vomiting and pain were classic appendicitis symptoms, and when they didn’t go away a few hours later, he called me to take him to the hospital.
We asked what causes an appendicitis – we knew it was an infected appendix, but what caused the appendix to become infected? We never got a real answer… one of the nurses said the appendix is attached to the colon so the thought was possible contamination that way.
The surgery itself took about 20 minutes. Sonny-boy had laparoscopy surgery with several small slits. He has a GIANT tattoo over the right side of his chest and abdomen, and the surgeons actually took care to not cut through it! (Me? I’d have hacked it off… that thing is uuuuuuuuggggglllllly! IMO of course 😉 ) They made four small incisions, and pumped up his cavity (he didn’t have gas bubble pains afterwards, so I am not sure what method they used), and pulled out the infected appendix. His surgeon told me his was a classic case, no appendix hiding behind another organ (as will sometimes happen with an appendix), no abscess – just a simple surgery. Less than two hours after he was taken out down to surgery, he was back in his hospital room. The nurse on duty said they would move it along since he was the last surgery of the day.
He came up high as a kite, and since I had been there the whole day, I decided to leave shortly thereafter. His er, “lady friend” had come up around six o’clock (bringing me food! YAY!), and she stayed with him an hour or so after I left.
The next day, Hubby and I picked him up after lunch and we brought him back home with us to be certain that he walked around (the surgeon said that was the best thing for him), but that he didn’t over do it. Sonny-boy works out a lot, including weight lifting. He isn’t allowed to lift weights for 4-6 weeks (20# max). Sonny-boy has a follow-up in two weeks where his surgeon told him, “You’ll make an appointment, come in we will say ‘hi’ to each other, I’ll look at your scars and you’ll leave”. The guy was funny! Sonny-boy does have a few days left to worry about infection. An abscess could develop even now that the appendix is gone. And of course, until the incisions heal any cut can become infected, so he has to be certain that remains clean. Each cut had one stitch; these are small incisions.
In the U.S., one in 15 people will get appendicitis. An appendicitis rarely occurs under age 2 and is most common between ages 10 and 30. So, if you experience a sharp pain in your lower right region that does not go away, and have a loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal swelling or difficulty with the ability to pass gas, definitely get yourself to a doctor or hospital to be checked out. The last thing you want is for your appendix to burst or perforate spilling the infection into your abdominal cavity. Sonny-boy is fine since he acted quickly, so if you have the same symptoms, act quickly too!
Stephanie B says
So glad he is ok now!!! We went through this with my step mother last summer, quite the experience for sure! They went in through her belly button. I was amazed that they could do that
Ann says
I am glad your step-mom is ok! And yeah, I was shocked at how fast everything was. If this had been first surgery of the day (instead of last), they’d have sent him home!
Ann
Debb F says
So glad he is Ok!!
Ann says
Thanks Debb!
Ann
donna says
Whoa! That’s the kind of excitement we can do without, huh?? Further proof as we know, a mom’s job is just never done! It’s good you are still close enough to help. I’m glad he is doing well. What used to take weeks to recover, now is days or hours. Funny about the surgeon and the tatoo…..
Ann says
I am sure they have had people with total body tattoos in the last few years, so they are probably used to it. Her face did flash a look of concern though when she first saw it. I can’t image what happens with the people with total upper body tats.
Ann
donna says
That explains it…the ‘her’. A woman surgeon would be way more concerned about the cosmetic result than a man…
Ann says
A woman surgeon made note of it, a male surgeon did the surgery.
Ann
Dian says
Wow! So happy is ok, glad you were able to be there for him.
So glad it didn’t burst while you waited all day!
Dian
Ann says
Right! I know Dian, I thought of that while we waited and waited.
Ann
Shell says
So glad he is ok! I think my hubby might have needed medical attention if he didn’t hand me the phone when my kid was calling to say he needed to go to the hospital!!!
Ann says
LOL Shell! Hubby said he’d never seen me move so fast in all the time he’s known me.
Ann
Stephanie K. says
Wow. So glad he’s okay! Two of my friend’s three sons have had their appendixes burst, very scary. She jokes that she should just take the youngest in now and get it removed so she never has to go through that again. Glad your son paid attention to his body and got help. Hope he recovers quickly!
Ann says
Yikes Stephanie! I can’t say I’d blame her if she hauled him in. A burst appendix is not good at all!
Ann
Ida says
I am so glad to hear the surgery went well. Very scary. I couldn’t help but notice you said Sonny-boy took maalox… lol check out the prices on ebay for that maalox we got way back when it was free/mm at RA. You maybe raiding his stash, lol.
Ann says
LOL It may have been that old, Ida!
Ann
Barbee says
Life is full of surprises. Phew! Glad he’s okay.
Make sure he takes all his prescription meds-I assume he’s on antibiotics?
Risk of post-operative infection is very real-even for healthy young bucks.
Ann says
Thanks Barbee!!
Ann
Skirnir Hamilton says
Glad your son is okay and hope his recovery goes well. Going to drive him crazy I bet to not do his weight lifting. When I had my salivary gland stone and the first doctor wanted to remove the whole gland which he said meant no lifting anything for 2 weeks, and no strenuous exercise for awhile, I so did not like the thought of that. The second doctor wanted to just remove the stone itself and that I was more willing to do.
I do not look forward to one of those calls from my son once he moves out. I would be a bit ummm, crazy.
Ann says
I was an avid exerciser when I got sick, Skirnir. I worked out 6 days a week, 2-3 hours a day. My illness was such that I was told to immediately cease and desist all exercise. It was a year before I was allowed back to it, and by then I had become quite the slug. I never returned to exercising. Makes me sad some days to think about that as I eat another chip and turn the page of the newest novel.
Ann
Skirnir Hamilton says
That is a lot of exercise. I don’t exercise that much. 45 minutes per day, and then one long exercise day, as I am contemplating walking another half marathon. Don’t remember hearing about your illness. How long ago was that? Me, I like cardio walking, biking, etc. (Okay, biking is a bit harder to get me to do of late as this city we moved to is all hills!), but I can’t seem to stand strength training.
Ann says
I have Graves disease. Back then my thyroid was running 8x normal, and so my heart was beating about 130-140 beats a minute at rest. Exercise pumped it up even higher. I had to stop because they were afraid of heart failure. Then I got more complications, some of which I never recovered from, that are just oddities with the disease. One oddity I got (a ridiculously long word) was a 1 in 10 million people thing. And the oddities haven’t stopped… last year I got one that less than 5% of people with Graves get … and this is 12 years after I had a thyroid.
Ann
TB says
wow that was scary! glad he is ok now.
Ann says
Thanks Tatiana!
Ann
KimH says
Oh, thats always scary… Im glad he’s well. A friend of mine who was in his early 20s was having an appendicitis attack and didnt know it.. he was telling me how he was feeling which was odd in its own right and I thought.. uhoh.. I dragged him to the nurses office (at work) and she agreed.. he needed to go to the hosp immediately.. His was getting ready to burst as they operated to remove it.
Ann says
Good thing you took charge, Kim!
Ann
Patti says
Never a dull moment…………….I am so glad that you got him to the hospital timely. Hope it’s a quick & uneventful recovery!!
Ann says
Thanks Patti!
Ann