A speedy recovery to your son and an important story to tell. A freshman at my university (affiliated with a major medical school and hospital) went to the infirmary with severe abdominal pain and was told it was nerves secondary to his upcoming first college finals. With that diagnosis, he went to a college an hour away for a concert with friends. He skipped the show due to feeling poorly and his friends returned to find him passed out on the dorm floor with a ruptured appendix. This made surgery and recovery more challenging. This was the same infirmary that missed mononucleosis regularly…
While there is such a thing as over-checking, getting a sense of when to pursue symptoms can take time and experience. Good call, @Classof2015.
Glad he got to the hospital! My D1 triangulates — she calls me and her future MIL for medical advice when something happens, then decides whether to go to the doctor.
Wow – so many stories! Thanks all for the support. Scary how close our kiddos came to something very serious happening.
He is resting and in a little pain (GF is administering his pain meds on a strict basis). But starting to feel better. I appreciate all the info and support.
Glad to hear that he is doing OK and that his GF is taking care of him. Hope the pain will be gone in no time. Speedy healing to him. Is he on any antibiotics?
Wow, so glad to hear that your son is doing OK now. A ruptured appendix is a very scary thing! My husband spent 3 days in the hospital during his sophomore year of college with undiagnosed stomach pains (this was back in the 80s when hospitals could actually keep patients!). The pain wasn’t in the “right” area to be appendicitis. When the pain became excrutiating, they decided to do exploratory surgery and discovered his appendix had burst at some point. He ended up with sepsis and nearly died. Fortunately he recovered, but it was not an easy recovery. I’m glad your son has his GF there helping him now and I hope he is feeling better soon.
@BunsenBurner – I asked him what meds he was on and one sounded like an antibiotic. I also believe (based on my dr brother and nurse sister) that he got antibiotics via IV while at the hospital.
@C3Baker – that’s so scary for your husband! Especially when people are telling him it’s in the wrong area. Such a dangerous thing.
DS just asked if he could get flowers for his GF for being such a good nurse to him. Of course I said yes
C3Baker - that is so scary. That is a situation where a CT scan does magic. The typical procedure here at our closest ER is very quick blood and urine work, then a CT scan if the totality of indicators point to a possibility of appendices. Antibiotic drip if CT confirms it.
My husband’s appendicitis did not have the “right” symptoms either. His family doc sent him home with an antacid. The urgent clinic later refused to see him and told him to head to the ER. He went home. By the time I got home, he was in a ton of pain and really pale. Off to ER we went! In the ER, he was taken in right away even though the waiting room was packed. His appendix was about to burst… After that and after my niece ended up in the ER with a blood clot in her lung, I err on the side of caution.
Classof2015, your son needs to keep an eye on his temperature and other symptoms that could indicate infection. Glad to hear that he is taking an antibiotic. Big YES to the flowers.
YES YES YES to flowers! Glad your S is doing better. A ruptured appendix is a non-trivial thing.
I had my appendix out last summer – had two days of lower back spasms, then I couldn’t walk without extreme difficulty – as in I was using a cane and taking tiny steps. On the fifth day my primary said it wasn’t the appendix and to see an orthopedist. On the seventh night I had lower right quadrant pain. No fever, no nausea at any point. Called my primary, asked if I should go to the orthopedist or him. He said the ER. ER doc swore it was back spasms but agreed to do a CT scan. Came back 20 minutes visibly chastened – it was my appendix. The surgeon told me later that appendicitis after age 35 can present in strange ways.
Happily this happened BEFORE we left for vacation!
When S1 had his ruptured appendix, he was in the hospital for seven days with IV antibiotics and a six-inch incision down his belly. They removed a foot of bowel and resected it back together. As I said earlier in this thread, it was not minor. Very very not minor.
My oldest son had acute appendicitis at age 13 while we were on safari in Kenya ( first time in Africa). Appendix removed at Nairobi Hospital,
No CT scan in site…along with many other things! It did, however, begin our family’s love affair with the continent of Africa and it’s people!
After all of the above stories I feel it is okay to relate mine as a resident. The worst case scenario. We got a early twenties man from city Y where doctor X botched his ruptured appendix surgery and he had all sorts of organ failure. Despite top tier care, including reoperation, he died from the sepsis. Eons ago we were taught surgeons should expect to take out some normal appendices plus now there are better diagnostic tools. CT not used back then for this that I recall.
OP- good that your son has a caring girlfriend keeping an eye on him. I’m sure the surgeon did things properly and all will continue to go well. Plus- the GF will make sure he does what is needed. Most of the time things end up well.
My mother lost her mother (who was a nurse) in the 1920’s as a toddler because of complications . She died in the hospital where she worked. So glad there are better diagnostic tools and antibiotics these days! Continued good wishes to your son!
My daughter had a similar problem when she was 8. It took a long time before it was detected. It had ruptured then. It look some time before she came back after the surgery. We went through a hell of stress. We were told the anesthesia was overdose. It nearly affected her memory. Thank God she’s in her second year of college now.
Glad he is fine. My appendix burst and I had no pain. I just didn’t feel well, like I was fighting a virus. I stayed home several more days, then cleaned my house, scrubbed the bathroom floor, did some laundry, changed my sheets, and went to the hospital. Yes, I realized I had to take breaks between these tasks, and that maybe something was really not right. Upon immediate admission - I was literally whisked back in the ER - the doctor said something to me about being “an hour from death”.
Interestingly, on my recovery floor, there was an MD, another patient I met while pushing my IV around during the required walks after surgery. He didn’t know either and thought he had the flu.
Others are screaming in pain. Not everyone reacts the same way. I’m sharing this story as a cautionary tale for those without experience, as I was.
As a middle schooler, back in the 70s, I had a ruptured appendix. Similar to some of the other stories on this thread, everyone assumed I was fighting off some run-of-the-mill virus and would start feeling better…soon.
My mom, as a rule, was not quick to run to the doctor, although she was in contact via phone. Finally, it was decided to bring me in to the doctor’s office, I was told to go to the hospital now (a few blocks away), and next thing I know they are wheeling me into the OR.
So glad your S is on the mend and has a caring gf! And so many appendicitis stories!
I have a D who never wants me to worry. She was a sophomore attending college across the country and called me about 1 pm her time to share with me that she was in the hospital! She had been feeling poorly and, at about 4 am, she was in so much pain, she decided she needed to go to her U’s medical center. Apparently, she remembered her insurance card, ID and phone and, as it was raining, put on rain boots. She proceeded to flag down a taxi wearing only her pajamas and the boots. Once at the hospital, they determined she had appendicitis and scheduled her for a 4 pm surgery. She lived in her sorority and she had one friend that woke as she was leaving. That one friend told her other good friends and they all came to the hospital the next morning to visit. When one of her friends that I’d met asked her how I reacted upon hearing the news, D said she hadn’t told me. My D was reprimanded and the friend dialed our home number and made D (who had planned to call AFTER the surgery) call. OMG I couldn’t believe my D hadn’t called. We’re actually quite close and it was/is the rare day that we don’t exchange at least a text or two. As she was at a teaching hospital, I asked her about the surgeon and who would be operating on her. She didn’t want any advice and now, of course, has pretty visible incision scars. Still, it all worked out but we all joke about it now.
I am so glad to hear your baby is okay, @Classof2015 ! How scary for everyone, being away at college and this happening.
So glad he has a wonderful caretaker!
I have to say this- about 10 days ago I started having an odd pain on my lower right side. Like nothing I had ever experienced, very painful at first but then it got better and then not horrible… My internet search brought me to appendicitis, but I have no other symptoms at all, so I have been just dealing with it. It hasn’t gone away yet. I am SO SCARED it’s my appendix. I am a 50+ yo type 1 diabetic women who is TERRIFIED of surgery… I know I should go to the doctor but I don’t want to,
