NFR Talk to me about Appendectomy

[Burt Dagger]

Mine went south on me in 2000 when I was already into my late forties. I had a tummy ache, and figured my standard “sleep and it will get better” program didn’t work. By the time I got to the ER things were getting bad, and I was rushed into surgery.
The following day I developed cellulitis.
The attending doc threatened me with necrotizing fasciitis (don’t do a Google image search) and wanted to open the wound; leaving a Grand Canyon that would heal up- in a few months.
I objected and got a12 hour reprieve. Things started improving, and I spent the next 4 days in the hospital getting IV antibiotics. I didn’t eat and left the hospital 15# lighter (I started out slim), and was weak as a baby.
Before antibiotics, I’d have suffered a nasty death.

Brutal, even without the Grand Canyon treatment.

I was on an IV drip before seeing the surgery team, and the PA had told me that in cases like mine with no rupture, sometimes they see how the appendix responds to antibiotics and then discharge with no surgery.

I called my older brother, who’d had his appendix removed, to get his thoughts. He told me that after his burst, the schmutz dripped down into his ballsack and gave him a testicle infection on top of everything else. That’s the moment I resolved to just get the surgery if they were going to leave it up to me.