I've always been terrified of getting appendicitis. The thought of being in pain somewhere other than home used to keep me up at night. Luckily, I was hit with a sudden attack at home, my husband was off work, and I wasn't feeling too terrible to take care of the kids.
It all started pretty unusually for me. I've always thought that appendicitis starts with a sudden, sharp pain in the lower right side of your abdomen. So when my stomach started acting up in the morning, I had no idea that by evening I'd be heading to the hospital.
The stomach pain was a 3 out of 10, and by lunchtime, it had passed. But the pain soon came back, this time lower, just above my belly button, and it hurt so much that I lay down on the couch, hoping it would pass soon.
The pain just kept creeping down, and my lower abdomen was throbbing on all sides. That's when the warning signs started to flash in my mind: 'Please don't let it be appendicitis! It usually hurts on the right side, maybe it's just my gut or something female-related.'
The discomfort was getting worse, and the pain was pretty intense and wouldn't go away for a second. No matter what position I was in - curled up in a ball or lying flat on my back - the pain wouldn't subside by even a fraction. By the time I called an ambulance, I was pretty convinced that it was appendicitis, but the symptoms were pretty vague, according to the paramedic.
My symptoms developed incredibly fast - from the first signs to the doctor's call, it took only a couple of hoursThe pain was palpable in different parts of my abdomen, not just where it's supposed to be for appendicitisI didn't experience any nausea or vomitingAnd I didn't have a fever eitherOf course, I was advised to head to the hospital for a check-up. With the thought that it's better to err on the side of caution, I packed some essentials and was driven to the ER in style, complete with flashing lights.
I remember waiting for what felt like an eternity - 30 minutes for the surgeon, another 30 minutes for the gynecologist. Both of them told me the symptoms were vague, so let's just wait. Okay, I waited.
They sent me to a ward around 4 pm, and told me that if my condition worsened within two hours, we'd operate. If not, we'd look for another cause.
For the first half hour, I just lay there aimlessly on the bed, scrolling through memes. But then came a sudden shift - my temperature spiked, and I felt like I was stuck in an icy snowbank, freezing and aching all over.
My pain moved to the right lower quadrant, and I was hit with the most intense nausea - the cramps were so strong that all I wanted to do was lie down and sleep, just to disconnect from that awful state.
By 5 pm, I was told that the operating room was ready, and I'd be having a laparoscopy. Spoiler alert: it was a blatant lie - I crawled to the OR around 9:30 pm, only to find that the surgeon had been called away, and something else was going on. I was far too exhausted to even be angry - just lying there, struggling to breathe, let alone think.
I've already shared my crazy endotracheal anesthesia experience in another review - you can read about it here - how I thought I'd never wake up and would be stuck on that operating table.
After waking up, the first few hours my body was on a high from the painkillers, and the discomfort was minimal. But by the next day, the pain was back in full force - I can compare it to the feeling after a C-section, which I've had twice, you can read about it here.
Walking was excruciatingly painful, and to make matters worse, my right shoulder would ache severely whenever I'd get up from bed. They explained that during the operation, my abdominal cavity was inflated with gas, and some of it wasn't released. This gas would rise to the upper part of my body and press on my nerve endings, causing the pain. Thankfully, these symptoms subsided after a couple of weeks.
I also had to undergo magnetotherapy while I was in the hospital - it looked old-school, but it was actually quite heavy and ran on electricity. Initially, I was skeptical about this device, but after the treatment, my pain significantly decreased, and I found it easier to move around the ward.
Diet. I had to stick to a pretty strict diet after my appendectomy - for the first couple of days, I was eating baked apples, drinking 1% yogurt and kefir without additives, and crunching on crackers. The next few days, I added some hospital food to the mix: pureed soups, cooked cereals, and steamed meatballs. They even offered me braised cabbage, which isn't really recommended, but I didn't have any issues with it.
By the third day, I was discharged from the hospital, and at home, I was eating boiled chicken, liquid purees, boiled beets, and braised cabbage (I ate it in huge quantities - I just couldn't get enough of it). I was still drinking those same yogurts and kefirs, and eating cereals. A week after my discharge, they removed my stitches, and when I asked my doctor about my diet, he told me I could eat whatever I wanted.
Of course, I didn't dive headfirst into all the heavy stuff right away, but within two weeks of the operation, I was drinking alcohol in moderation, eating sushi, and moving from diet food to regular home-cooked meals.
It's been two and a half months since the surgery, and I'm happy to report that the stitches are barely noticeable most of the time - the one spot that's still a bit sensitive is near my belly button, and I get a slight twinge when I'm lying on my stomach.
I still haven't had the sutures removed:
I'd highly recommend the laparoscopic method for removing the appendix - of course, after seeing my own scar from the C-section, I wasn't too fazed by the idea of stitches, but this method is definitely less invasive.