Connect the Dots Ginger | Becky Allen: Emergency Appendectomy and How To Know When To Get Help

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Emergency Appendectomy and How To Know When To Get Help

DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional, information is based on my own personal experience. Consult your doctor if you have any questions about your emergencies.

#1 advice I will give you right now is LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! We caught this early because I listened!

This week has been INSANE you guys! About 4 days ago I noticed things just weren't feeling right. I was eating healthier and sticking with my meal plans not having sweets or indulging on other things, but I was getting more and more bloated. And by Saturday night my appetite just disappeared. I trudged through Monday, with lessons but I wasn't feeling well again. I also started my new timed eating schedule to make sure I was eating enough, again I hadn't really been eating well. So I was forcing myself to eat even though I didn't feel like it. I woke up Monday night at about 2am to use the bathroom and I had a searing pain in my right abdomen. After the bathroom, I started to shake uncontrollably. Just like I did right after I had a baby and adrenaline was coursing through my system. My head was screaming, "SOMETHING ISN'T RIGHT!"

We called our nurse on call line from our insurance and they urged me to get to the ER. Since there was a possibility of being pregnant, and the area was right for a ovarian cyst, appendicitis or ectopic pregnancy. It was about 3:30am at this point and I drove myself, in my husbands stick shift (not fun to drive when you have searing pain anytime you move by the way!) and after getting admitted and waiting 2 hours for a CT scan, it was determine that I had early appendicitis. I then ask, "if this is what early feels like...WHAT THE HECK DOES LATER APPENDICITIS FEEL LIKE!" At this point I had denied all pain meds, because I didn't want the drugs to affect what we were trying to figure out what was wrong with me. At that point I was being referred to a surgeon at the main hospital for a consult (not confirmed on surgery, but more than likely) Matt had to hurry and drop the kids off at a friends house and bring me Elyse so I could feed her before I have surgery because we didn't know the next time I would be able to feed her.

About at the point I took the picture below, is when I talked to my best friend who is a surgery nurse. And she gave me the play by play of the whole surgery and what they would do. I love information, but at that point, it might have been a little too much to hear, but I survived!

I was then transported to the hospital via ambulance, second time I have been in one. And once there, they put us in my post op recovery room, so we knew I would be having surgery very soon, even before I met with him, they had already decided I would be having surgery. Then we just waited for surgery which came a lot earlier than I expected. Matt had run up to the cafeteria to get some breakfast for him and Elyse and had to rush back down to say good bye to me. Once in the surgery room, they asked if I had any special request for music to be played and without even thinking about it I requested for some Chopin Preludes, because they were not as sad as the nocturnes. I had finally been given my first bit of pain medication at that point and was very happy! Yep, I had denied all pain meds up until surgery. I'm crazy! Yes, the picture below, no meds. As long as I didn't move I was okay.
Surgery went well, and since I am a redhead, I have to get sedated pretty well. And boy they gave me the good stuff. It took me a good 4-5 hours to finally wake up and be coherent. And I was totally texting and calling people while I was higher than a kite! I am sure that some of the things I said will come back to haunt me at some point! Because I don't really remember what I talked about.

I got to spend a good 24 hours in the hospital to recover. I was given the same pain reliever I had during surgery to help me sleep that night. It was heaven and amazing! But being attached to an IV for over 12 hours, I had to get up to go to the bathroom about every 2 hours. They did have me walking about 6 hours after my surgery to help get some of the gas out of my system that they had to put in to do the surgery.

The next morning I was disconnected from my IV, FREEDOM! And told that I was going to be discharged after breakfast. Literally 24 hours in the hospital and about 32 hours from start to finish, I was being sent home.
While in the hospital I requested for a breast pump to help me keep my supply up. It took them 5 hours to finally get one to me, but it didn't work for me. I don't normally pump. Never had to. Thankfully we had 2 bags of frozen milk at home for Elyse but I wanted to make sure that we still had a supply when we got home. At about 8:30 the morning I was released, Elyse arrived for the first feeding since surgery. 24 hours at that point of no feeding. But she took to my breast without any problem, and thankfully I had just gotten my order of Sweetie Pie Organics Lactation Smoothies, to help me with my supply. So big goal, was right when I got home, drink one of them and let them do their magic.
And since, I have been resting up, per my docs orders. Mostly in just a sports bra and shorts because my incision has been hurting and I don't want anything touching them. I'm not going to lie though, it is so hard to see this picture below. I have worked so hard to slim down this summer, and after the surgery, I am bloated back up. But it is because of the surgery. My core is mad at all the digging, poking, blowing up and yanking around they did in there. And it is going to take a little time to get back down. I made some good progress this summer. I am hoping that this helps to fix some of my hormone imbalances, and bloating. But only time will tell. For now I have 2 weeks of no exercise. I have to let my body heal on the inside, since things were taken out and moved around. But I am already doing research on at home recovery workouts to do, and bed rest exercises. So be on the look out for those.
24 hours post surgery, and I am thinking I don't look too bad, even sitting down and I can't engage my core at all.  I will have some fun little scars. But my biggest question is when is this blue iodine going to get off my skin!!! I will keep you all posted on my recovery! 

How to know when to get help: 
We have all heard it, severe lower abdominal pain on the right side with fever, GET HELP! But with women, there can be so many things that are the culprit. Appendix, ovarian cyst, or ectopic pregnancy. These are the things I thought of first, and what was confirmed when we called our nurse on call number. Sharp pain in your body at any time is usually not a good sign. If you have sever abdominal pain on one side, fever, or just feel off. THEN GET HELP! Call your doc, go to urgent care, or the ER. Get seen, because waiting can be the worst thing you can do! It is better to be safe, than sorry.

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