Anyone else have a laprascopic appendectomy?

[Misha]

Had one about 12 hours ago so I no longer have my appendix. I'm wondering what your recovery time was and what they did as far as follow up and pain management.

[Sci_Girl]

I have never had it done. But it is a relatively simple procedure. Just make sure you do not move around if the Doc says stay resting. You don't want to burst the couple stitches. Pain management is again follow Doctors orders. Some people avoid the meds because they are concerned about them in the first place but I would say if you are still in the hospital on a morphine drip let it keep going. You can deal with some pain later if you choose not to take the codeine or percs but right after a surgery I would say keep the meds going. Right after the procedure is going to be when you want to heal quickest and that is easier if you feel no pain.

[Aska]

Well I've had laparscopic procedures done, and my gallbladder axed.

Gallbladder was the worst in terms of pain though. Fuck that was misery. The worst part was trying to get up from laying down. There were times I just could not do it, even with people pulling me up.

I was down for a good week and slowly my strength came back. Pain meds wise... Loved me some vicodin for the first few days and gradually was able to do less and less til a week after.

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[Misha]

Yeah I'm glad my gall bladder wasn't fucked. I have been on so much pain medicine sick I've been here I can barely see straight. I think I've had something like 14 shots of dilauded, 6 shots of fentanyl, and 6 Percocet 5/325s in the last 22 hours. Now just waiting for a doctor to give me the okay to go home

[Aska]

Where are your surgical wounds? I can give you an idea pain wise based on that. I've had three scopes in my belly button and six other cuts from that.

Also, glad you're okay. Hoping they caught the appendix before they burst.

[Ariella]

I had a laprascopic surgery to remove an ovarian cyst, not quite the same, but I'll share just in case it helps -- the first couple of days, I was on heavy pain meds and had a doting mom, so it was mostly chill lol. Best advice was actually from another coworker who went through the same thing: DON'T sit up, try to roll onto your hip and push yourself up sideways, like a yoga side plank, without bending your core as much as possible. I found this to be great advice (and a great arm workout).

Also, don't get cocky like I did -- by day 7, I was feeling pretty good, and I decided to send my mom home and go to a pre-deployment party for a friend. Ended up ripping the bellybutton stitch, despite being extremely careful (which honestly felt tight like she pulled it in too much, from the get-go) and bleeding a bit from there, which creeped me out because I'm the type of wimp who passes out seeing blood like that. So I had to drive myself to my OB's other office (very far away) for a semi-emergency follow-up that day; she put silver nitrate in my belly button which burned and itched for quite some time. So take more time than you think you need would be my advice... six months later honestly I could still feel stiff scar tissue under my surgery wounds, sometimes yoga poses would hurt and tug on these places. Also, I was back at my desk within two weeks (despite my OB's discouragement, I worked in a judgey/hostile work environment at the time and didn't feel safe taking more time than that) and it was uncomfortable and also probably a mistake on my part.

Good luck, heal quickly!

[grodgil]

Feel better soon!
I had a laproscopic surgery involving taking out my uterus that filled up with about 6 years worth of blood, they put a scope/camera through my navel and a few incisions on my abdomen to help extract the uterus. And I 1000000% agree with @(you need an account to see links) about how to get up with the least amount of use of your abdomen area. It truly is the best way to get up and out of bed or just from laying down in general. I've had plenty of insane surgeries in the past and that form was what got me through a lot of them. Don't be afraid to keep taking pain meds while at home but do try your best to ONLY take them if you really can't stand the pain anymore. Percocet is an addictive substance and becoming dependent on it would just be another form of trouble for you. Also if you need to cough or sneeze, hugging a pillow can help lessen the pain that comes with coughing or sneezing with abdominal incisions and surgery scars. It's crazy how much we take our abdomen area for granted until something happens and it suddenly feels like life can't go on without disturbing the surgical incisions, haha

[Kylae]

I had my gallbladder taken out laproscopically too. I don't remember the recovery time, it was 2007 when this was done, but I remembered being more worried about what filled the space of the missing organ now that it was gone. I also have crazy irrational omphalaphobia, the fear of belly buttons. More specifically, something happening to my own. With the laproscopy, one of the incisions is in the belly button. When I woke up after surgery, I was just chilling in the hospital bed, minding my own in a double occupancy room with a random person I didn't know. At some point I randomly looked down, and my belly button was bleeding. I had half a second to scream and push the nurse button before I passed out of fear. Everyone thinks the story is hysterical, but that was my nightmare, lol.

[Misha]

Update: sorry Ive been in and out of consciousness all day. Got sent home with 3 days worth of oxycodone but thankfully I still have another 30 or so from my seizure fall. Thank you all for your input and I'm sorry you've all had to go through this pain. To be honest, I'd rather have a kidney stone again or even mono.

---------- Post added at 10:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:50 PM ----------

And blood doesn't bother me at all, it's vomit that makes me lose it, thank the Lord I've only thrown up once since Saturday.

---------- Post added at 10:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:51 PM ----------

@Aska I got lucky they caught it early on while it was just inflamed and went laprascopic with two incisions on my side and one in my belly button

[Aska]

Okay good! Glad it was caught in time!

Also good that you didn't get anymore incisions above the belly button. You'd really struggle with moving. Just take it slow and easy the next few days. Maybe roll towards your left and put your weight on that side to get up. Did that with my gallbladder to try to take some of the weight off that side which eventually paid off once I could tolerate the pain from the belly button incision and the one above it.

Hope you recover quickly!

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