Get well soon electron

Get well soon.

Feel better Bro:)

Get well soon, electron!

Thanks everyone! The doctor let me out last night after nine days in the hospital. They haven’t told me much the last couple of days except they were waiting for my white blood count to go down to “eleven” (hundred? thousand?) before letting me go. Apparently it was up to “twenty seven” in those first few days.

The whole thing was totally unexpected, I’m glad it happened on a weekend. October 1st was “just another day.” It was spooky how it crept up, no big pain in the beginning or anything. Just a slow gradual shutdown of urination that you don’t really notice at first… maybe upset stomach or something is what you think. Then it works into chills up your back, and across your torso. Then there were hot and cold periods, I thought maybe a flu was coming on. I got some sleep for a couple hours after this weirdness, waking up at 3 AM to discover that my bladder and colon had totally shut down. Apparently the toxins paralyze your bladder, colon and can even go to the lungs.

I was getting more bloated by the hour. It was so uncomfortable I got dressed and drove to the emergency room and hobbled in. They did a catheter to relieve the pressure and I heard they found bacteria in the blood tests and the chest x-rays showed something that looked like pneumonia, the nurse said she could see they were treating me for it from the chart. I have wondered if there was something “silently bugging me” for quite a while. Maybe there was.

Sunday the 2nd found electron saying “Pneumo what? Appendix what? You’re kidding right, I don’t wanna hear this shit. Now get real and tell me it’s kidney stones or something, right?” While two doctors tried to convince me, a cat scan was set for later that day. I had four of those big drinks with the marker dye in it and off to catscan. Appendix verified. Although cat scan isn’t the best for looking at kidney stones or gallstones, I asked them to look anyway and they saw no indications.

Monday afternoon the 3rd I’m scheduled for surgery, I hadn’t consented yet but they wanted to move fast. He tried a laproscopy but had to cut a bigger scar on the right side to get at it properly. It was perforated right at the attachment point and actually behind the large colon or something, making the pain appear higher up than you would normally expect it to. Since then it’s been liquid antibiotics, stuff so strong it hurts just taking it, and you need pain killers with it or you feel like you’ve been punched in the gut a hundred times, it’s so sore. Total cramps that, well, I think I know what women are talking about with the pain of childbirth. 24-hour saline and potassium was included with this for the first 5 or 6 days… it’s only been the last few days I could get away from the IV bottle and walk around without it. I had “a lot of bags.” :) I had a drain bag for the appendix fluid as it got cleaned out. Urine bag, potassium bag, antibiotics bags, jeez! I was getting fevers every night that would lower as morning approached.

Since then it’s been antibiotics every six hours (two at noon) blood tests, blood sugar and everything else monitored waiting for all the “appendix juice” to drain out of the abdominal cavity. You are lucky to get 3 hours of sleep in a row, because someone is always checking blood sugar, temp or whatever. Now that I’m home I will be able to get lots of sleep without interruption so guess what I will be doing. :)

I have basically quit smoking, the doctors were needling me about it the first few days and I could only get out to have a smoke 2 or 3 times a day the first few days with all the flushing out they were doing. After the third day they just tasted so horrid and awful that I just threw the rest of my pack away. I haven’t smoked for 6 days now, and/but I know I’m just one puff away from starting up again. After today it will be 7 days, but I’m “just one puff away from starting again” so as long as I look at it that way it seems to work. I wasn’t planning on quitting but it’s just happened for some reason without a bunch of turmoil or anxiety attached to it, so I’m just going with the flow and letting it happen. I started going outside and watching others smoke at the hospital while I sip coffee and it doesn’t even bother me. Weird.

I do hate the scar… is there any way to make it heal less noticeably?

Now I’m on oral antibiotics and some pain killer to keep the abdomen from going into those horrible cramps again, so I’m going to get some sleep.

:wave:

Sorry to hear of all those medical problems my friend. Heal up well. I think there is some scar reducing stuff that one can get at any drug store to make it lighter.

Get well soon, dude. You think the pneumonia part may have been storm related? Good luck and keep us posted.

Intactmale-

Special thanks to you for all your help in watching the house, feeding the cat and all the little details I could not take care of. You are good people and your help was as selfless as it was unexpected. Thank you.

Just caught up with the news. Glad to hear you are on the mend . Now but do take it easy. I know it sounds trite but we all have that urge to prove we are well again,

The best way to hide scars is keap lean, if you start to put on a layer of fat the scar doesn’t get any so the scar shows up more

electron,

First of all, I’m glad that you’re well enough to post of your hospital and medical experiences and on your way to a complete recovery. Be well, rest and keep on getting better.

Peforeal

Electron,

wouldn’t it have been easier to just go get some of that nicorette gum? Man the lengths some people go to just to quit smoking.

Seriously, glad to hear you’re doing better. Glad to hear the medical profession has advanced to the point where their not shoving fingers up your ass anymore to check for appendix also. The scare didn’t bother me as much as the flatulence did. It fades with time.

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

power to you!

Welcome back electron.

Get well soldier. :gijoe:

I never doubted for a second that you would get better….you’re a tough mother fucker! ;)

Glad to hear you’re getting better, Electron. Hope you have good insurance and they cover everything.

As for the scar, just take care of the wound and try not to get the scabs pulled off. Then, when the skin has healed over, you can get some Tea tree oil and maybe some Vitamin E oil mixed together and massage the tissue a few times a day for a few weeks, or months. This should help.