perfed appy Hey all. Sorry for the long absence. So remember the whole thing about the aubacute appendicitis that I was talking about last time, when I went to the ER twice and they sent me home on antibiotics? Well, turns out that it was not so subacute after all. I had a perforated appendicitis and returned to the hospital at 3:00am on Valentine's Day, where I was admitted to the surgical service for nine days. Nine long, horrible days. Who stays in the hospital for nine days anymore? I never did end up getting my appendix out (the treatment for perfed appy is IV antibiotics and pain management, along with drainage of any abscesses that form, which was, unfortunately, the case for me) but am scheduled to go in for surgery at the end of the month. I was finally discharged from the hospital last weekend, and have been recuperating at home with oral antibiotics and lots more rest than I would like to need. I thought I would really be able to bounce back pretty quickly from this, being young and otherwise healthy, this whole experience has really knocked the stuffing out of me. I'm tired all the time, weaker than I would like, and my appetite is squat. I expect I'll feel better when I finish my course of antibiotics, since that stuff will do a number on the old GI tract, but I think that just generally having a rampant infection in your abdomen and not eating for two weeks will do that to a gal. I'm getting better though, even if it's not as quickly as I would like. The silver lining on all of this, since I need to look for one, is that it's all been quite a learning experience. Seeing things from the patient's side and all. I view my illness and hospitalization as my last med school elective, sort of experiential learning that's going to make me a better doctor. It's so different from the patient's point of view, it really is. Even as a fairly medically savvy patient, a hospitalization is like being thrown in a burlap bag and stuffed into the trunk of a car, destination unknown. You never know quite the hell what's going on. I've written a paper about my experience for my Clinical Practice class that I'll share here. It has all the gory details, and just posting the paper is easier than writing the whole thing again. (Warning: written for a somewhat medical audience, hence, full of mysterious acronyms.) So anyway, that's what's been going on around here. Getting better, getting stronger, but not quite there yet. Thanks for all the e-mails. I'll try to update again soon. xo Michelle |
Saturday . March 01 . 2003 . 9:12pm |
perfed appy Hey all. Sorry for the long absence. So remember the whole thing about the aubacute appendicitis that I was talking about last time, when I went to the ER twice and they sent me home on antibiotics? Well, turns out that it was not so subacute after all. I had a perforated appendicitis and returned to the hospital at 3:00am on Valentine's Day, where I was admitted to the surgical service for nine days. Nine long, horrible days. Who stays in the hospital for nine days anymore? I never did end up getting my appendix out (the treatment for perfed appy is IV antibiotics and pain management, along with drainage of any abscesses that form, which was, unfortunately, the case for me) but am scheduled to go in for surgery at the end of the month. I was finally discharged from the hospital last weekend, and have been recuperating at home with oral antibiotics and lots more rest than I would like to need. I thought I would really be able to bounce back pretty quickly from this, being young and otherwise healthy, this whole experience has really knocked the stuffing out of me. I'm tired all the time, weaker than I would like, and my appetite is squat. I expect I'll feel better when I finish my course of antibiotics, since that stuff will do a number on the old GI tract, but I think that just generally having a rampant infection in your abdomen and not eating for two weeks will do that to a gal. I'm getting better though, even if it's not as quickly as I would like. The silver lining on all of this, since I need to look for one, is that it's all been quite a learning experience. Seeing things from the patient's side and all. I view my illness and hospitalization as my last med school elective, sort of experiential learning that's going to make me a better doctor. It's so different from the patient's point of view, it really is. Even as a fairly medically savvy patient, a hospitalization is like being thrown in a burlap bag and stuffed into the trunk of a car, destination unknown. You never know quite the hell what's going on. I've written a paper about my experience for my Clinical Practice class that I'll share here. It has all the gory details, and just posting the paper is easier than writing the whole thing again. (Warning: written for a somewhat medical audience, hence, full of mysterious acronyms.) So anyway, that's what's been going on around here. Getting better, getting stronger, but not quite there yet. Thanks for all the e-mails. I'll try to update again soon. xo Michelle |
