h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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.

I've gone through some nasty gross medical things, but luckily never anything like that!

Glad to hear you're feeling better, anyway!

Well, it's been an exciting week, then. I'm glad everything got straightened out, so to speak.

Seriously, I'm glad you are feeling better.

I second that. Was it covered by the doc who screwed up?

Poor dave! A fitting response to the election, though.
I'm glad you're past the episode, anyway.

Thanks everyone! Especially for the puns. It was exciting, for the hour or two in the ER when they were setting everything up. The rest would have been pretty boring, but when this happens I can tell my brain is functioning differently - I can zone out/veg out really easily. Otherwise I'd probably go insane, because all I was doing was sitting there waiting to see if it would fix itself.

I have no idea how much doctors hear about previous cases when a complication arisess or develops from it, excepting of course a lawsuit. i think my MIT doctors may actually personally know the original doctor, so it may get communicated by word of mouth, but I don't think there is a formal mechanism.

A twisted election and a twisted stomach? J said she needed to get a boyfriend with an un-twistable stomach

Glad you're doing better dave.

thanks GDZ. I'm trying to not take for granted the ability to walk and eat food, but it's easy to forget. And it's only been 2 days.