so i'm home

In redford after about 20 hours at Sparrow Hospital. Here's the skinny:

So Sunday night, around 6:00 or so, my gut started cramping. It was pretty general, more or less all over. I didn't like it, but I didn't think much of it. However, when it continued throughout Monday, I started thinking. I wasn't running a fever, I wasn't nauseous and I still had a decent appetite. I skipped a lecture in the evening because I wasn't feeling hot and I took a nap. Since the pain was still there after the rest, I started poking around. Not much on the left, not much up top but, lower right - there it was. For those not medically inclined, draw a picture from your bellybutton (umbilicus) to your right hip bone (anterior superior iliac spine). Two thirds of the way out from your umbilicus, along this line, is a specific point - McBurney's. Lots of pain when you press there? First on your list would be appendicitis, even with a lack of fever or referral from the LLQ and a normal WBC (found out later).

So I guess you figured it out, like I did. After a consult with a family friend/doctor/MSUCOM grad I called Sigro and had her take me to the ED over at Sparrow. It took a while, but I eventually got in and a barium contrast CT (at 4:00AM) confirmed it. Two hours later I was prepped and by 6:45AM or so, I was out of surgery less one vestigial organ with my parents at my side. I hung out in recover for a while. Got sick, found out that morphine doesn't do a damn thing for me and made the switch over to Vicodin, which seems to do the trick.

So at the moment, I'm relaxing at home in Redford with my parents taking good care of me. They got the appendix out laparoscopically, which means that I only have three small incisions instead of one big one. Only problem is that my appendix was so inflamed that it was two big for the 1cm incision in my left lower quadrant - meaning that they had to stretch it out a bit, leading to a bit more tenderness and bleeding post op. Other than that, everything went fine and should stay fine.

Oh, and there's a marking on my liver that looks like a peace sign. Dr. Khoo said that he's never seen anything like it. Fun stuff.

I want to write more, but that's all there is to the story. Holler at me.

-steve