[lomonel]

So how was the vacation other then the child almost dying thing?

[maxfreemann]

Flubber, when you come back home and the kid is recovered, don't forget to give it a proper beating with f.ex. a leather belt for disrupting your trip.

[Mereebirl]

They have socialized medicine in the US now BlackCat.

Please keep up.

[leangarance]

Glad to hear the boy is okay.

[dmoiknlasd]

How old is he?

You're welcome for letting you win the auction league, BTW.

[EmpokemyMok]

I hope all goes well for you.

JM

[fd8IIys2]

Good to hear everything is OK !

And good on you for taking travel insurance.

[Zenthachall]

The appendix did not rupture prior to surgery, right? Assuming so (the operation would not have been 8 hours later if it had ruptured), he'll be fine.

Mine ruptured before I had surgery (peritonitis) and I woke up days later. Stupid pain tolerance.

[praboobolbode]

I think ruptured/burst appendixs are uncommon. A ruptured appendix is a dangerous surgery. The scars from peritonitis are inches long, the scars from a simple removal are tiny. When it ruptures, one must be pinned open like a frog and vacuumed. The pain after rupture is amazing; within a couple hours of rupture, I lost feeling in my arms and legs and had tunnel vision nearly to the point of blindness before the emergency surgery began (no pain killers allowed prior to emergency surgery and it took them ~an hour to prep the table after I got to the ER). I was ~18 years old.


Perhaps there is such a thing as a minor rupture? Dunno. My scar is ~6 inches long, I had a drainage tube from by abdomen for weeks. Perhaps mine burst, not ruptured, and this is a matter of semantics.

[johobuo]

My father ruptured his. Not a good situation. Glad to here that kiddo is well and that everything went ok.

And I'm one of the folks who bought trip insurance to the USA.

[avaissema]

So he was perhaps slightly leaking then, I gather. Still sounds more serious than a basic removal. I've never heard of this "waiting to see if there is an abcess" (I had a tube that allowed fluid to leak from my ab for a couple weeks or so, and a nurse came to the house regularly to attend it) and did not know it was different for children and adults.

In adults, and basic removal, the scar is very small because it is a simple removal of the organ. If the organ has burst prior to the surgery (rare in adults), however, the scar is large because the ab cavity must be "vacuumed" (as I understood, not just washed). It's not that my doc was sloppy with the incision, it's that he had to do alot of vacuuming.

I guess a leak requires only a little vacuuming, which can be done with scopic tools and a minor incision.


I don't like the fever. I'd want x-rays to make sure the docs didn't leave something in there, I suppose I'm a bit paranoid.


My surgery was 1989, at a geriatric hospital with a general physician (the closest thing with an operating table from the school). I was transported by school security vehicle because there was not time for an ambulance (my appendix was ruptured as I sat in the clinic awaiting a white-blood cell test). In the hour or so it took them to prep the OR, I experienced some pretty amazing pain (not that the hours of prelude to the rupture was fun either, but it was endurable). They say I was about 20 minutes from dead when they put the mask on me at the OR.

[jdynwa]

Toxic shock. Tunnel vision, no feeling in extremities...

My appendix ruptured (perhaps read: burst), ~2 hours before they put me to sleep for the surgery. I had been in severe pain for perhaps 12 hours before and been to the clinic twice about it prior to the 8am visit when they took a white blood-cell count and sht their pants. I was so late, I was (later) told there was only about a 30% success rate. Thankfully, when they put me to sleep I thought it was routine and was sure I'd be waking in the morning.

A general physician at a geriatric hospital performed the emergency surgery successfully after preping a table that had not been used in I don't know how long; no complaints here. It's probably the closest I've been to death (and I've done some reckless stuff). I actually managed to stand and take the x-ray with no feeling and a tiny hole of vision. I actually managed to stand for the x-ray with no feeling and a tiny spot of vision. I remember asking the nurse "how can I get off the gurney for an x-ray when I can't feel my legs and I can barely see?".




Early during the prep, I had to take a catheter (couldn't pee for a test) without even an aspirin (emergency surgery = no drugs) and didn't feel a thing. T'was later I got the tunnel vision and lost feeling in my arms and legs (I noticed while they tried to stand me for x-rays). I remember asking the nurse, "how can I stand for an x-ray when I can't feel my arms or legs and I can't really see anything?".


When I woke up days later, my mother and a girlfriend from highschool (not the one I married) were in my room. I remember her begging me to open my eyes, and I said that I already had (I lied); then they asked "ok, if you did, then what is on TV". I had heard the credits and answered correctly "inspector gadget". They were then happy and let me sleep another day or so. I was in intensive care, and remember the beep beep machine with the inspector gadget credits. It sucked when they finally took the tubes from my nose to my stomach; I probably should have slept for that.

[newpiknicker]

I was at Stetson University, aiming for their Law School at St. Petersberg. Not exactly beach castaways.