Say goodbye to my appendix
Over the years I have heard people scoff at philosophers who gaze at their navels in an ivory tower. Why an ivory tower? Maybe the lighting is better. I don’t know about you, but my belly button is a cute “innie” and it would be difficult to see it properly without proper lighting.
But my contemplation of the navel is more mocking than philosophical. I recently had a laparoscopic appendectomy. My abdomen has a couple of small bandages: left side, right side, and a small cut above the navel so the surgeon can poke around, find, and remove my inflamed appendix.
I didn’t see this coming.
I felt a bit tired and nauseous over the weekend. When I had pizza on Saturday night (a treat from my usual healthy diet), I felt like a lump of lead in my stomach. I blamed it on overeating and my age. On Sunday I felt lethargic. On Monday, when I had chills, muscle aches, and a fever of 101.5 degrees, I thought I had the flu. I took it easy, drank water and took ibprofen for the pain. As I am a reasonably healthy woman and I do not have any medical problems, I do not have a general practitioner.
I have a couple of good friends who are doctors, one is Carol, an OB / GYN, and the other is Andrea, a naturopath. When I have medical questions, I talk to them. On Tuesday my fever dropped to 100, the muscle aches were gone and I had a little energy. I didn’t have much of an appetite, but I managed to eat yogurt, some fruit, and some soup, so I knew I wasn’t in danger of consuming myself.
My two medical friends said that I should stop procrastinating and find a GP who could treat me. Doctors should not treat friends or members of your own family. He knew his advice was correct. I promised to find a family doctor from the list provided by my healthcare provider. However, when you are sick, it is difficult to get an appointment for a new patient, so it is best to have a doctor on board. Also, when you are sick and / or in pain, it is difficult to understand a healthcare provider’s website.
I learned this the hard way.
Tuesday night I was still not feeling well, but at least my fever was gone. I called the nurse hotline. I had completely different symptoms than the day before. The nurse asked questions and listened to my answers. I thought he would tell me to take two aspirin and call in the morning. Instead, he said it should be seen by a doctor. I told him I didn’t have one. He said to go to the emergency room or the emergency room the next morning. Always upbeat, I asked her if I should go even though I was feeling better, and she said I absolutely should. At the time I was tired, so I figured I’d go to bed, go back to the health provider’s website in the morning, and find out which urgent care center would take my insurance.
Which brings me to my second tip; Know which hospital and / or urgent care your insurance takes BEFORE you need it.
Around 4 am on Wednesday morning I had abdominal pain in a band-shaped region in the front of my stomach. I went to take ibuprofen, but I read the label and it said it could cause stomach bleeding. Not ibuprofen for me. I tried to browse my healthcare provider’s website and find an urgent care that would accept my insurance. I couldn’t make sense of it, nor could I find a customer service number to get help. Again, this information may seem easy to navigate under normal circumstances, but I was alone, in pain, and frankly scared. I contacted Carol, my OB / GYN friend (who was out of town) and she told me to call the nurse helpline again and ask her where I should go. I knew the nurse wouldn’t have this information, but I asked her, she put me on hold, put customer service on the line, and found a location close to my home. A great example of how nurses go the extra mile!
I kept thinking that my problem would be fixed with antibiotics, but I went to urgent care. I didn’t call first. I got there at 7:15 am. They don’t open until 8. This brings me to my third perception. Not all urgent care facilities are 24 hours a day. Again, these things are worth knowing in advance.
I waited in the parking lot for 45 minutes, but once I got in everything went pretty fast. The doctor pricked around my abdomen and it was tender. In my infinite wisdom (hrmph) I had searched about appendicitis on the internet and since my pain was not near the belly button and I did not have the classic symptoms, I ruled it out. The doctor was not so dismissive of the possibility of a misbehaving appendix. And even if I was, SOMETHING was wrong and my pain had lasted long enough. He ordered a cat-stat scan. I didn’t even have time to urinate all the dye they gave me to drink when they told me to go to the ER. It was my appendix.
I told Carol and Andrea that I was on my way to the ER. Carol tried to convince me to get someone to take me. But I’d already driven to the urgent care and cat scan center, so I was sure I could drive myself. I was lucky on this one. I did it well. But in hindsight, that was not a smart choice. Don’t do what I did. I was lucky. You may not be. Even if no one is available to take you, call an ambulance or even a taxi. Do not drive yourself.
Once in the emergency room, everything went fast. I had planned to call my sister, Tina, and my daughter, Alicia, later. He didn’t want to worry them. I thought I would have a lot of time to call. Again wrong. But luckily for me, Carol called my sister and daughter and they were both with me while I did my pre-op tests, etc. Having my family there meant more than I thought. In addition to moral support, Tina managed our family medical history better and is very good at remembering details. Alicia is always calm in a crisis and was there for practical matters, like taking care of the bunnies and letting my friends know what happened.
Once I had painkillers on board, I felt pretty good. With Tina and Alicia as the audience, I managed to make a few jokes and gift them with some stories. I don’t know if I would have been so brave if I had faced all this alone. Even with drugs, I would have spent less time exposing staff to my drug-induced unfiltered sense of humor and more time worrying. So another idea, don’t go to surgery without telling someone. At the very least, it’s reassuring to know that someone is waiting for you when you wake up from the operating table.
The 45 minute surgery was a success and I am recovering very well. My good friend Lauren took me home and made sure I had what I needed (soup, ginger ale, etc., recipes, etc.). I go back to work on Wednesday. I am not sure why I had appendicitis. I think it is a mystery to most doctors. But that does not mean that I did not learn some things that I would like to pass on to you:
• Know which hospitals, doctors, pharmacies and urgent care centers accept your insurance BEFORE you need to use it.
• Know the hours of urgent care. Not all are 24 hours.
• Don’t try to diagnose your own symptoms through webMD, especially for something that could be fatal, like a burst appendix.
• Do not drive yourself to the hospital.
• Tell your friends and / or family if you are not feeling well so they can control it.
• Never assume that your problem is minor. Flu-like symptoms often mask more serious conditions.
In retrospect, I would like to say how grateful I am to the doctors, nurses, and support staff who treated me. They were the best! I would also like to thank my family, friends, and co-workers. They came out like champions.
While I must admit that I have been gazing at my belly button more than usual these last few days, this unexpected event has me gazing at a few other things as well. Don’t wait for an emergency to react, prepare in advance. It will save you time, money, stress, and maybe even your life.
