Journal Entries
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appendicitis complications
Posted Nov 12, 2004
I just got out of the hospital after spending 4 nights there. It was the result of complictions from when my appendix burst, 2 years ago. Basically, the scar tissue around my intestine, or on it, caused the appendix to get twisted or collapse, causing them to get blocked. Luckily they didn't have to operate, but they did have to use an NG (nasal-gastro) tube to pump out my stomach for 1.5 days. Perhaps one of the most unpleasant.
The NG tube, for one thing, is like having a bull ring from your nose - if it gets tugged, it hurts your entire nose. For another, I spent the first 12 hours suppressing the gag reflex, as I could feel the tube jammed in the back of my throat. Now, the doctors did an awesome job, of that I have no doubt. This is just a inherently painful procedure.
Luckily, the NG tube worked. It releived the pressure on the blockage, and it came undone without surgery. With surgery, I would have been in the hospital much, much longer, and my recovery time would have been a year, rather than a couple weeks.
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Latest reply: Nov 12, 2004
Blah
Posted Jan 22, 2003
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah, blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah, Blah blah blah blah, blah, blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah Blah.blah.Blah blah. Blah, blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah!
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Latest reply: Jan 22, 2003
10-15-2002
Posted Oct 15, 2002
Hello Journal
I had "acute" (there was nothing pretty about it) appendicitis 5 weeks ago today. Actually, the appendicitis ended today, and what I had was burst appendix 5 weeks ago today.
I had gone into the emergency room about 1 AM Monday morning, but they sent me home, thinking it was "gastro-entestinitis" (aka food poisoning). So I tried to sleep it off. I was starting to feel better sometime around noon, on tuesday, september 10th. I was feeling better because my appendix, which had been under a lot of pressure, had finally "perforated" (aka burst!). So I thought I'd finally turned the corner, and was now on the mend. About 3 hours later I realized that wasn't the case, and the pain had returned with a vengeance.
Back to the hospital I went (6 PM). I didn't know it, but at this point I was experiencing the onset of peritonitis. See, your appendix is attached to your intestines, at the spot where the lower intestine meets the upper intestine. So when it breaks, all of the nasties in your intesitines get to run free in your abdomen/body. In laymans turns, I was full of sh*t. Literally. This leads to MASSIVE infection - one sympton is your belly becomes distended. Another is that your white blood cell count goes off the charts.
Anyway, the doctors may or may not have realized this, either way they weren't telling me. After multiple examinations, a blood test, an x-ray, and a cat-scan, at around 1 or 2 AM the surgical resident informed me they didn't know what exactly was wrong. Some kind of bowel obstruction (based on the fact I hadn't had a bowel movement in a couple days, not on anything fancy), probably caused by appendicitis. In the morning they'd operate, see what was wrong, and hopefully fix it.
Well, I wasn't going to be able to sleep cause of the pain, so they gave me some morphine in my IV. This did nothing - I guess the pain was that bad, but about 45 minutes after the morphine I felt as terrible as ever. So they gave me some demirol, and next thing I new it was 6:30 AM and almost time for surgery. I was pretty excited at this point. I mean, I'd been in pretty much the worst pain of my life all day monday, and tuesday night I'd learned a new definition for the phrase "worst pain of my life". I'd just gotten 2-3 hours of sleep (the most in the past 3 nights), so I was feeling "great". Little did I know that that would be the most continous sleep I'd have for the next week!!!
Now, they were going to fix me up and the pain would be gone (so I thought). Surgery was interesting because, as this was a teaching hospital, quite a large number of people turned out for my operation. Normally you may have a doctor or two, a nurse or two, and the anasthesiologist. However, in the teaching hospital each of these people brought at least 2-3 students in various stages of learning with them. So in my dazed state, I see a crowd of be-scrubbed medical personnel stretching out to the horizon. Okay, maybe not that many, but I was impressed.
Of, course, next thing I know, I'm being wheeled into the recovery room. Somehow my friends had found out, and they were there to say hi. Which was a huge surprise and a great morale boost. I was pretty much out of it, so I don't even know what we said. I was very happy in the recovery room - I was very happy to be alive. I've been in surgery before, for minor things, and I never felt like this, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a result of the anasthetics.
to be continued...
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Latest reply: Oct 15, 2002
6-20-2002
Posted Jun 20, 2002
Twinkie experiment continued
11:30 AM no change in twinkie. No direct exposure to sunlight
yet. No animal disturbances.
1:20 PM direct sunlight has been hitting the twinkie for about
an hour now. greasy condensate is still there, twinkie
appears to be lighter in color (is it being bleached by
the sun?)
2:50 PM no change
7:30 PM no change
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Latest reply: Jun 20, 2002
6-19-2002
Posted Jun 20, 2002
Twinkie Experiment
Placed twinkie in direct sunlight (Boston, MA, USA) appearance
3:40 PM Initially twinkie is visibly moist, yellow in appearance
wrapping has visible greasy sheen.
4:05 Drops of some liquid have condensed on the inside of the
wrapper. No change to the twinkie itself.
4:50 Condensate on wrapper appears to have evaporated
somewhat.
6:15 Sun is obscured by a neighboring building. Twinkie
remains defiantly strong.
9:30 Sun has set completely. Twinkie doesn't appear to be
doing anything. Also, twinkie isn't attracting insects,
rodents, or birds, yet.
12:45 AM No apparent change in the twinkie, too dark to really
tell though. Will check back in the morning.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jun 20, 2002
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