So, Friday evening my appendix abruptly decided it no longer wanted to be a part of me.



This parting of the ways naturally caused me a substantial amount of pain which came on quite abruptly after dinner. I spent roughly an hour writhing around on my parents bed, trying to convince myself that a bad bit of cheese causing all my pain, before heading to the local ER with my father. We got there around 9pm and the ER was (thankfully) very quiet. I was triaged quickly and got back to a nice ER room in a short amount of time.

They started an IV and drew blood, then waited on the results which took about an hour to come back. In the mean time I got some Zofran (anti-nausea medication) and Dilaudid (pain medication). The blood work came back showing a slightly elevated white count. Combined with my fever and pain (lower right quadrant, rebound tenderness over Mcburney's point, and I knew what this all meant but was still hoping for the 'bad bit of cheese' diagnosis) it was enough to warrant a CT scan. However, that required me to drink Redi-Cat, a disgusting Barium suspension. It was nauseating, but with the help of some more Zofran I got it down. Waited an hour and a half for it to get through my system. Went up, got the CT scan, with IV contrast as well, and then went back down. The results from the CT took about forty five minutes to come back and showed a slightly enlarged appendix. Big surprise.

Along with all my other symptoms, they called for a surgery consult. Time for more hurry-up-and-wait. Surgical resident came down, decided to call his boss and a cardiology consult. The cardio doc had only seen one other patient with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and that patient had, unfortunately, died. So, the cardiologist was very, very concerned about doing the surgery. Fast forward another two or three hours. Something like seven doctors consulted on my case and the entire ER knows who I am. After much back and forth they decide to transfer me to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia). They were understandably uncomfortable with EDS, particularly in a pediatric patient needing surgery.

The call went out for a transport team, but it was mid-day on a weekend so it took forever for one to free up. When my ride did show up, they discovered that someone had failed to mention my less than stable condition. The hours in the ER, with too little food and too many drugs was taking its toll - my blood preasure was falling (too far), my heart rate was rising (too far), my blood sugar was bouncing around...Between my soso condition and my trio of drips (saline/glucose, antibiotics, potassium) I needed to be sent ALS (advanced life support). More fun waiting. I got another dose of pain meds. Dozed a while. Watched a drunk guy almost get tasered. Mooched the nurses wifi. Walked around. Sat around.

It was around 12pm by the time I finally left the local hospital for the half hour drive to CHOP, who accepted me as a direct transfer into the ER. I was in a room and settled minutes after arriving and met my lovely ER nurse. The entire time I was there they were very attentive to my pain and nausea and controlled it wonderfully. By 6pm, after extensive consults with cardio, surgery and anesthesiology, appropriate measures were decided upon to deal with my various medical problems and I headed up to pre-op. Because of the time and day I was the ONLY person having surgery and the entire team was able to pay lots of attention to my father and I, which was very nice. I went into surgery sometime around 7pm and was out in about an hour.

Waking up was rough; I was still intubated. I wasn't able to breath on my own for a little bit, but when I started to fight the tube (and make an effort to breath on my own) they took it out and moved me from the OR to recovery. I was still the only surgical patient and the nurses paid lots of attention to me. :) They gave me oxygen in recovery, got the compression boots on (to help keep circulation going in the legs and prevent blood clots), gave me my first shot of Heparin (blood thinner), started my third antibiotic drip, along with a glucose/potassium/saline drip. They gave me Morphine, but it didn't work at all so they gave me Dilaudid. Once I was able to breath without the oxygen they moved me to my own room. I don't know what time that was, but it was dark outside.

I was feeling pretty terrible; I was in a lot of pain and I was very nauseous. They gave me some more pain medication and some Zofran. I dry heaved a couple of times (nothing in my stomach) and although that really hurt my incisions, it settled my stomach. I sucked on a few ice chips, which was nice since I hadn't had /anything/ to drink except Barium since I'd first gone to the local ER (9pm Friday!) and after a while I was able to drift off. Woke up a couple times during the night for vitals (of course) and more Dilaudid, Zofran, Heparin and antibiotics. Earliest in the morning I was able to get up and go to the bathroom, so they took the compression boots off. I slept on and off 'till about lunch time. I got my last dose of antibiotics (the doses were in drip form, so they took a while to go in) mid-morning and after that they were able to dis-connect me from the IV, which was nice since I'd been on fluids almost continuously since 9pm Friday! They left the IV in, it just wasn't connected to a drip.

After a Dilauded dose before mid-day I started to feel a bit better and moved around a little more. I kept some clear foods down (water ice and jello) and so they let me eat solid food. I nibbled at it for about an hour. In addition to my three incisions from the surgery my shoulder was quite sore. From the quality of the pain, I suspect it was dislocated at some point during or after the surgery. I was somewhat expecting it, and after some heat packs it started to feel a bit better. As the day progressed I was able to move around more and more. I even made it to the playroom on my ward and spent a little time on the computer chatting with my friends at Starbright world. I was released in the late afternoon, after one last Heparin shot and another dose of Dilaudid. I was discharged with 5 days of every 4 hour doses of Dilaudid for pain control and Zofran in case of nausea. Restricted activity (no lifting heavy things, driving, horseback riding, running, etc.) for two weeks, and I'll need to go back to CHOP in two to three weeks for a check-up with the surgeon.

I want to mention how incredibly wonderful all my nurses and doctors were, at both hospitals and the paramedics that transported me. Every single one was exceptionally kind and caring and they made a fairly disturbing experience much, much easier. I was actually pretty pleased with how I handled everything; everyone mentioned that I had a really great attitude. The surgeon said normally he has to give people anti-anxiety shots before surgery, but I was so calm and non-freaked out that I hadn't need it (he did offer, just in case I wanted it). Despite the pain and genneral drama, I made lots of new friends among the staff at the hospitals and am kind of proud of myself for getting through it all. :)

Just to complicate everything, prior to becoming ill on Friday I'd already had a cold for five days. Between that and having had the breathing tube, I've pretty much lost my voice. I'm also still coughing a bit, which is not at all fun with my recently sliced open belly >.< Hopefully the cold will go away soon and not settle into my lungs.

Anyways, it was an unexpectedly dramatic weekend.

Here's a photo, take in the CHOP ER by my dads cell phone. You can't really see it, but I'm holding a dolphin that has it's own hospital ID band around it's tail. :D I was worried the dolphin would get lost while I was in surgery, so my ER nurse went and got it a band that matched mine.