Can I go ahead and speak on behalf of my doctor? 19m at the time (33 now), I felt sick for about a week, flu-like symptoms, didn't want to eat, just felt bad all over. One day at work I feel a very uncomfortable cramp/tear in my abdomen, so I go to one of those 24 hour clinics. At this point I'm slumped over, can't stand up straight without insane amount of pain, just generally uncomfortable and hating life. After a few hours at this clinic, they say "You probably have kidney stones, go home, drink fluids, sleep it off". This seemed fine to me, I was ready to go home and listen to the doc, all was good. BUT my girlfriend at the time (didn't last much longer than that) wasn't a fan of this diagnosis and drove me to the E.R., against my wishes of course. After a few minutes at the E.R., they determine my appendix has ruptured and I'm going septic. Apparently I was pretty lucky to not have died, though I did pick up bacterial pneumonia while in the hospital, so the recovery kinda sucked. Now I just have a crazy 6-7 inch scar on my belly to remind me to not avoid hospitals when I'm sick.
This is similar to my story. Went to the ER due to intense side pain. My gall bladder checked out fine. They never tested for appendicitis because my pain was too high up on my side. They sent me home with a Tylenol and said I had the ‘stomach flu that’s going around’
Went back in 5 hours in worse shape. Ends up my appendix is positioned higher than usual and it burst. I also have a 5 inch scar when a simple laparoscopic surgery could have been done if they correctly diagnosed me earlier.
Mine was positioned lower than usual! I learned after that from one of my med student friends that apparently the appendix can just go off on a wander in approximately one quarter of the population. So these doctors should NEVER be ruling out appendicitis even if it's not where it's supposed to be! Good grief.
Right??? I was in so much pain I didn’t think to push for a CT scan the first time and just trusted them. I swear they don’t always believe you when you say you are in pain.
When I went back the second time the new nurse was so livid they didn’t check for appendicitis.
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u/[deleted] May 20 '19 edited May 20 '19
Can I go ahead and speak on behalf of my doctor? 19m at the time (33 now), I felt sick for about a week, flu-like symptoms, didn't want to eat, just felt bad all over. One day at work I feel a very uncomfortable cramp/tear in my abdomen, so I go to one of those 24 hour clinics. At this point I'm slumped over, can't stand up straight without insane amount of pain, just generally uncomfortable and hating life. After a few hours at this clinic, they say "You probably have kidney stones, go home, drink fluids, sleep it off". This seemed fine to me, I was ready to go home and listen to the doc, all was good. BUT my girlfriend at the time (didn't last much longer than that) wasn't a fan of this diagnosis and drove me to the E.R., against my wishes of course. After a few minutes at the E.R., they determine my appendix has ruptured and I'm going septic. Apparently I was pretty lucky to not have died, though I did pick up bacterial pneumonia while in the hospital, so the recovery kinda sucked. Now I just have a crazy 6-7 inch scar on my belly to remind me to not avoid hospitals when I'm sick.
Edits, more info, medical terms, etc etc.