Can You Please Share Appendicitis Stories

In the last few years, two friends have had appendicitis - both felt off and unwell. One my age (fifties) and one tween. *ETA - the tween was told to go home.

The one my age had complications - hers burst and they didn't clean it all up when they took it out. She was off work for some time and it was painful.

The tween was ok but quite ill at the time. I think (?) they got it out in time. I think he just got progressively more uncomfortable and in pain until they took him in to hospital.

Good luck - I hope it's not, but if it is, that they get it in time and he recovers well :)

Personally, I'd take him to the ER. My son was 13 when he had his rupture. Felt sick on a Friday and missed school. Felt fine Saturday to go paintball which pissed me off. Thought he was faking Friday. He lasted maybe an hour and called for his dad to come pick him up. So from the time my husband dropped him off to the time I got home (a couple of hours) his fever spiked to 103. He was in the hospital for almost 10 days due to getting really sick afterwards because they didn't get all the infection out. Son had the classic symptoms.

Hubby's ruptured a couple of years ago. His symptoms were a little different from our son's so I wasn't sure. But yep it ruptured. That is nothing to mess with.

Kate

What I don't get is why they didn't do an ultra sound on him.

My son was 17 when he came down stairs stating his stomach hurt and didn't feel well. His dad told him to go back to bed.
I said - ahh nope. We're going to the doctor.
My husband (his dad) rolled his eyes and said "they will tell you it's a stomach bug and send him home".
I said - Nah - I think this is different. He kissed me and went off to work

We headed over to Patient First where they did a blood draw and his WBC was HIGH and the physical examination said "nope. we can't treat him here. We can call an ambulance or you can take him to the ER." I drove him to the ER. Patient First called ahead to the hospital - they were waiting for him when I dropped him off at the door (he was grabbing his side at this point) and I parked the car.

They had a bed waiting for him. The doctor came in and said we need to do an ultra sound and then we will determine what is going to happen. He was taken back about 5 minutes later and the doctor came back to tell me they were taking him up the OR for an emergency appendectomy.

His appendix was the size of a pinky finger, if not longer and was "ready to explode". It came on like gang busters. He was really upset too because it happened on the night of his JROTC Spring Ball.

I would tell the doctor to do an ultra sound. They can figure out what's wrong in 5 minutes with that.

My son told us he wasn't feeling well. His pains were in his stomach, but not in the traditional location. He was sick for 4 days. Vomiting, diarrhea. On the 4th day, we took him in. His appendix had ruptured. He was in the hospital for 10 days. He almost died. The doctor's told us that if we had waited 6 more hours? He would have been dead.

Get your son to the ER. Have an ultrasound done. Stop with the "watching".

When one of my kids had signs of appendicitis, our pediatrician ordered imaging. It was late in the day so we had to go to an area hospital that had a pediatric ER. They took bloodwork to look for a high WBC and did imaging (I think a CT scan) to rule it in or out. He ended up not having appendicitis, but I appreciated knowing for sure. If the pain and fever persists, I hope you can get a good workup done to either rule it out and give you peace of mind or treat it before it ruptures.

Can you go to Urgent Care for an ultrasound? You won't have to wait as long as at the ER (if he's not in the throes of an emergency) and you'll have an image as well as a written report. Get the image itself on a disk, and take it with you if you are sent on to the hospital. You know what happens if this is his appendix and it bursts. My grandson was sitting around in the hospital, a fine trauma center but a teaching hospital with 10 gazillion interns/residents coming in to have my stepdaughter (the mother) recite his history and medications over and over. While all this was going on, the appendix ruptured. I wouldn't fool around with it, at least not until I got a negative scan of some sort. Even if it's something else (such as impacted feces/constipation), it should show up on a good scan, I would think. Trust your gut and your training, and be more forceful than your pediatrician may wish.

A 16 yr old at the taekwondo place our son went to felt slightly sick for about a day before incredible - could not stand up straight - pain hit him so bad that they took him directly to the ER.
He had emergency surgery to get his appendix removed and they just barely got it out before it burst.
He had to take it easy for a few weeks while he recovered - could go to school within a few days but was excused from gym for several weeks.
It's a much easier recovery if they get it out before it ruptures.

I'd err on the side of getting it out sooner than later.
If his fever starts edging up or the pain gets any worse just get him to an ER asap.

my son developed it unexpectedly early this year. he's 28. he went to the hospital where they accurately diagnosed it as appendicitis, then shunted him off into corridors, rooms where no one had access to his records, denied him pain medication and left him alone until it was so close to bursting that it actually leaked fluids into his abdomen and he had to stay extra days in the hospital getting drenched in antibiotics.

not telling you this to scare you, but to remind you that you need to advocate for your kid. i wish i'd been there for mine, even at his age, to raise enough of a ruckus to make sure he didn't get forgotten.

you say yours is being watched, but by whom? even as a nurse you don't know if he has appendicitis or not. vomiting and fever are potential signs of it. is the pain worsening?

i'd start making noise about getting him an ultrasound. some things can be relegated to 'wait and see.' appendicitis isn't one of them.

khairete
S.

My sister thought she had the flu and by the time her husband insisted she go to the ER it had ruptured. She spent several days in the hospital and took at least a couple of months to get over it (she was in her 50’s).

Please don’t mess with this. Go to the ER and have a scan done. This is nothing to second guess.

Don't delay. I kept complaining about extreme belly pain and vomiting. I could barely stand straight. My mother was worried. After a bit, I felt better, though she insisted on taking me to the doctor. I told her I was just tired and to let me sleep. I didn't want to eat dinner either. Luckily, she didn't listen to me, she knew me as an active kid who never slept and thought this was out of character, being about 6 or 7 pm and refusing to play with my friends, due to wanting to be left alone to sleep. She called the ER, explained my symptoms to them, the ambulance came and took me in, and I kept laughing telling them this was all a big scene for nothing. Turns out they were right, I was wrong. The surgeon in the ER said that if I had kept sleeping and ignored the symptoms, I was a couple of hours from peritonitis (from a ruptured appendix) and could have died. Apparently, it's a bad sign when you start to feel better and lethargic, who knew. I wish I could remember the rest of my symptoms, but this happened almost 30 years ago. Better safe than sorry, I'd say!

i don't have any to share, luckily.

With technology what it is? Why isn't the doctor doing an ultra sound to rule it out? This sounds totally absurd to me. It's really simple. An ultra sound will tell whether or not the appendix is ready to burst. WHY WAIT?? Seriously. Waiting until it bursts can cause MANY health issues and possible death if not caught in time.

I'd take him to the ER and have an ultra sound done.

I don’t have a personal story, thank goodness, but I have been told that if the appendix bursts, there’s a window of time when the person feels better before crashing from the infection. I would take him to the ER.

This happened last year to my mom when she came to visit. She woke up not feeling great...low fever and right sided belly pain. She just thought she had a virus or something and stayed in bed. Well, by that afternoon the pain was so bad I insisted (against her wishes) I take her to the ER. They ended up doing surgery that evening to take out her appendix. They said it had almost burst.

I’m wondering why it is still a waiting game. When I was a kid that was a standard response because of lack of options. I was even in the hospital for several days while they monitored me. Now there is imaging available to conclusively diagnose appendicitis. You as a nurse have to be aware of them. Don’t wait very long before heading to an ER that can do tests and find out what is going on.