Imagine, you’re going about your day doing what you normally do, eating what you normally eat, when out of nowhere you feel this sharp pain in your abdomen. What do you do? Well, if you are like me, you shrug it off and say, “It’s probably nothing…”
In fact, you probably barely even notice it, because it’s not that unusual. And it could be anything. Last night’s flourless chocolate torte and wine (mmm) waking up your insides. Sore abs that you crushed at the gym the other day. Or just that once-in-a-while random pain that literally could be anything. At least, that’s what I thought when I quickly dismissed that weird pain radiating from just below my belly button. “It’s probably nothing,” I said. That was Thursday morning.
I had some breakfast, drank some coffee, and one bowel movement later, felt much better. Phew. No big deal. The rest of my day went on as usual, and I didn’t think much of it.
Come Friday morning, I awoke with a similar feeling in my lower belly. Though this time a bit sharper. Once again, I had the usual breakfast and coffee, and I even made it to the gym to pump out a nice chest workout. Although afterwards, there was no relief to be had from a bowel movement; there was no bowel movement at all. As I went through my day, I figured it’s most likely just gas pain, and I needed to, well…pass it. I even video chatted with a doctor who assured me (given my symptoms) that it’s highly unlikely I have appendicitis. Good enough for me.
However, by later that evening the pain was still present, and there was no cheese to be cut all day. Sure it was a little unusual, and definitely uncomfortable, but I figured the best thing I could do was take some activated charcoal and sleep it off. Before hitting the hay, I again complained to my wife about my pain, to which she quickly turned to Dr. Google to explore my symptoms. After all, it had been two days now dealing with an unusual feeling/pain that I couldn’t quite place.
Now for anyone who has ever searched online trying to find an accurate diagnosis for symptoms, you probably already know where we wound up.
“Matt, we’re going to the hospital.”
That’s what my wife told me after discovering that I *may* have acute appendicitis. My response? I told her it’s possible, but I’ll just sleep it off and see how I feel tomorrow. Plus, the symptoms of appendicitis seemed much too severe for my case (vomiting, fever, keeling over in pain) – that wasn’t what I was experiencing. Needless to say, she wasn’t too thrilled about me going to bed with a potentially life-threatening illness! But, given my general distaste for going to the doctor, and my desire to avoid an unnecessary hospital copay, along with getting a good nights sleep, she agreed to leave it up to me.
Saturday went by. And then Sunday. I didn’t feel any worse, but I had a lingering fullness in my belly, and I still hadn’t had a bowel movement or passed gas by this point since Wednesday, which was definitely odd. Now, with half of Monday gone, I still had that lingering feeling. At this point I really began to wonder if my wife was right in her diagnosis. So, I did what any sensible person would do. I hopped online and plugged in to my search bar “what’s the worst thing that can happen for untreated appendicitis?” This was the first result I saw:
If left untreated, appendicitis can cause your appendix to burst. This can cause bacteria to spill into your abdominal cavity, which can be serious and sometimes fatal.
healthline.com
That was a wakeup call and enough for me to finally get this looked at. Before I checked myself into the ER, I visited an Urgent Care, juuuust in case it was something else. My providers response? You need to check yourself into the ER immediately.
To make a long story shorter, turns out I did indeed have acute appendicitis! Even worse, it had slightly perforated – hence the “relief” I felt from the sharper, stabbing pain on Thursday. Basically, if I had waited any longer, I very likely would have been dealing with the results of my “worst case scenario” search. Ironically, before I was given my official diagnosis, I was told it doesn’t look like I have appendicitis, but I could get a CT scan if I really wanted to. Um, yes please. I had come this far, and I wasn’t about to leave without a getting a definitive answer. Sure enough, the scan brought to life the very real fact that my appendix has perforated. Ahh…closure.
Within a few hours the A-team (A-team, get it?) was assembled and worked swiftly to remove my bloody (probably) appendix. All went well, and I was discharged that next morning.
Now a week later, I have been dealing with the less than pleasant after-effects of this surgery, which for me are apparently worse than what put me in the ER in the first place. My daily abdominal and body cramps make me swear I’m giving birth. While I will never truly know what that feels like, I can tell you now that I am entirely more sympathetic to all the women and mothers out there that have to go through that experience. Bless you.
Moral of this story? Listen to your wife. She knows best.
