I was in the hospital between Aug 22nd & 25th I think, for about 72 hours and home now the 2rd home recovery day. It was so weird to wind up there and find out my appendix had burst when assumedly this would have been about the ER visit the 2 weeks ago recently. On August 23rd, I underwent surgery and my entire appendix was removed, and a lot of pus was removed which was around it. Thankfully I was able to stay for 2 more days or so in recovery with nurses, and this was soooooo necessary. Most people leave only hours after the surgery so I am very grateful for that special opportunity. I learned so much. The level of care was almost totally all completely outstanding. Like I said in my past post, there's nothing like a major surgery when this was fully unexpected out of nowhere. It was a huge life experience for me, all the way. Coming out of it, I have heightened concerns about a possible fistula which will be another major surgery if so. That's the breakdown quickly, and I'll tell the whole story here.
What happened is, my last post I explained that I had upper abdominal pain like an acid reflux to a much more hardcore degree, but only the slightest nausea, so slight. Then I slept the night and although the pain subsided at night, the morning was another story. In the morning the pain was through the roof and then moved from the upper abdomen to everywhere in my abdomen, all shifting the pain around. It was so bad. Based on that, even without nausea, ChatGPT yelled ambulance NOW !!!!
So I packed, and ChatGPT was like "FUCK packing! Ambulance NOW!" but I'm glad I packed (lol) and went on ambulance. The fact that I had recently been in for an abscess on my buttocks made this confusing for the paramedic in the ambulance but the nurse who first saw me in ER figured it out pretty fast that this looks unrelated to the abscess and some kind of infection in the stomach. That just resonated and made so much sense.
Promptly I took the CT, and that fully confirmed it, so they put me on antibiotics on IV for like overnight to the next morning to prepare for surgery.
One thing went wrong with the CT nurse. I asked to have the IV in my left arm which isn't bruised from the previous ER visit and sae said sae'd prefer not please, firmly, because it's easier to have it on that side for lying on the CT actually. And later I found out that was totally not cool. Another nurse greatly objected to that bad move. Sae said "That was WRONG !!!!" and another confirmed it. Sadly, that caused the IV that I had for the whole 72 hours to hurt a lot the whole time and they didn't want to change it cause that's doing it again. I mean we have to minimize needles for vein health.
Oh well. So that night I stayed in neurology cause they had no other beds, and the neurologist nurse was sooooo sensitive and so "neurology style" as a specialized nurse that is just all about refined and hyper detailed sensitivity approach. That nurse fussed so much for so long over my blood pressure being so low. Sae must have checked my blood pressure at least 10 or 15 times in a row, doing things like raising my legs higher than my head and then head higher than legs, and trying another blood pressure thing to see if there's any chance the reading was incorrect. Turns out the low blood pressure is concerning for surgery but seems natural due to the situation I was in with everything, and fluids through IV really helped it a little bit.
The next morning I was ported on stretcher to OR, and that was my favourite part :)) BY FAR. The OR really is the brain of the hospital. Or should I say the soul, because honestly I really can't say enough — cannot remotely say enough — how much I appreciated the OR. The professionalism of every single person was sky high, through the roof (cry). That was experiencing the operative circuit board of the whole hospital, where God truly lands. For me, the level of care was HYPER-intensive from the nurses, far spanning beyond anything else that occurred there. It was this incredible, hyper attentive yet grounded, calm, smooth, centred, flowing, empowered DESIGN.
The design created for me there by the nurses there was to make sure that I would get my extra 2 days in the hospital to recover after the surgery rather than get kicked out right away only hours after, which is much more common. It was such a beautiful creation the way this was done with so much complexity to FORCE the order on so many doctors and nurses who would have totally asked me to leave. And I NEEDED that. They were so right, that was so necessary on so many levels. Their reason was because of just anesthesia being too much because I have no caretakers or taxi or driver afterwards — although they massively pumped out a big long story that I seemed SO INCAPACITATED afterwards. As angels as God on a mission of divine truth.
I met the surgeon too who was going to work on me and got SUCH a super tight solid vibe off the surgeon. Now I know the meaning of the expression "Like a surgeon". It means like the most SUPER TIGHT solid and skilled, hands of gold, master power level. I just got that vibe. Anyway, sae totally agreed to call both my Dads after the surgery and this added up to the most INCREDIBLE story that they both got the surgeon's direct call while I was still asleep right after. My biological father Richard had been in church through the whole time of my surgery and got the call perfectly as soon as getting back. Sae said I was coming up so much for sae during church, and NOW sae knows why after getting the phone call. It was the most ultimate thing for my family to be able to hear the mssage like that of what was going on !!!! And my other Dad Lee took it on to post on my Facebook wall so that everyoe had word that I was OK :) They both tag teamed — Lee is expert at Facebook stuff, and Richard at the important family stuff.
And I want to say too, there was this one person there in charge of educating me about the anesthesia, who did SUUUUUCH a top notch shockingly incredible job of communicating to me about that so beautifully. And I said to sae "Wow. You're really good at your job of doing that", and sae responded this key thing : "Well the reason I do a good job is because YOU HAVE A RIGHT to know what's happening to your body in this place". And that was FIRE. For two reasons : One, because I was heavily raped during tubligation surgery at the age of 24, and the situation was grave with not getting any information about why my anus had been massively opened when that had nothing to do with the surgery. So that was actually HEALING for me to hear that from that person <3.
And two, that was so crucial, because later on I had to be very assertive about hearing from a doctor or surgeon with the workup of how the surgery went. I had questions. I had been told of a series of ways the surgery might go and my Dad informed me of some information the surgeon had said which I wanted to know more about, and hear the rest. Many told me at many times "A doctor or surgeon will come to you to inform you of how the surgery went before you are discharged" and over the whole course of 2 days in the hospital, no one came to address me at all. I kept asking and kept being assured it will happen. Then the final nurse was like not a very fantastic nurse, although nothing personal cause sae was obviously well meaning and in the heart, but was basically not that great, and totally was responsible for discharging me, and totally gave me all the gears saying there will simply be no doctor or surgeon to speak with before discharge.
I had to be so assertive, but by pursuing it with the grace and the conditioning of the OR, I was fully successful in opening the nurse's mind to making the effort to ensure that I speak with a surgeon or something before my discharge finally (lol). And that was all thanks to that wonderful person in OR as well as the whole team there. Every ward I was in, from ER onward, I noticed that they condition the patient to carry wisdoms and teachings with them throughout other wards where the same expertise is not present, so that the patient can understand specialty paradigms about their condition and what kinds of questions or needs to have.
But not to put down the nurses though. Aside from the one I mentioned, and the CT nurse, I had a huge experience of really learning to not only respect but REVERE nurses. I flashed through the hisotry of nursing, thinking so much about the many things they have to learn and adapt to. All the things they say about nurses are true. To be a nurse is so hard, it's such a path of giving so much sacrifice for love and care. And some of the nurses were just soooooooo outrageously good, so exceptional, i was completely IN AWE. And I knew if in my life already that if someone sasy to you "I'm a nurse" that's not much information : Every KIND of nurse is so different. But NOW I know how the TV and movie and book steretoypes or ideas of what it is as a pardigm are so true. Literally some days, nurses with the dove of peace over their heads, like true saints.
And just getting the care I got in those beds was so necessary and so educational and supportive to recovery on sooooooo many levels.
But it comes to the doctors and surgeons as the experts. Now, I got the doctor / surgeon join me to debrief me about how it all went in the surgery. Finally, confirmation that my whole appendix was removed. Essentially, it was the worst it could have been for my condition save for if it would have been SO BAD that I'd wake up with a tube coming out of my stomach to drain it out further, or so bad that they can't remove it at all and I have to wait 3 months. It was bad but they fully removed it with no tube. There was a lot of pus around it, it was in a very advanced stage. So they had to suck out all that pus with a vacuum so to speak haha and that was removed.
And I asked also : Since there has been all this question about weather there is perhaps a fistula causing my abscess, is there any chance that there is any connection between these two conditions in a relatively similar part of my body? And NO. If it's a fistula, that's still so far from the area that it's not possibly related. And other questions I asked too, were all answered. Also just if this would affect my ultrasound on the 31st that I've had the surgery. And no, it is just as accurate with the ultrasound on the 31st even though I'm fresh out of surgery.
Actually I'm hyper impressed with myself in the quality of questions, communication and sensitivity that I had towards all the countless professionals I spoke with there. I was highest quality in every way. I'm so proud.
I also asked what to do with my antibiotic medication that was prescribed by the clinic doctor 2.5 days before I arrived at ER. When I got to ER they said "Right now you'll be on IV antibiotics which will also be effective against the abscess s it's best to discontinue them for now. But later a doctor will advise you if you should continue the course after or not", and this was all clarified for me. It's the exact same antibiotic and equally effective on 2 issues at once so it's perfect, I just merged the two prescriptions without doubling them. By two I mean, I was also prescribed antibiotics for after the hospital and by merging them, I wound up only taking one more day of these pills than I would have if I had not been at hospital.
Now, this brings me a little more to the fistula topic. The thing is, I was alarmed by the fact that the abscess was coming back so soon after the previous ER visit for it, and needed more antibiotics from the clinic at all. You see, a fistula will ensure that the abscess continually refills, while if it's located from a cyst it would not just refill just like that. It's not just as simple as that but it's kinda starting to look to me after talking to all these doctors and nurses that it's suspicious of a fistula if it started coming back so soon. Of course, that's not proof of anything really. There are other possible reasons. But I'm totally starting to intuitively expect the fistula at this point.
It's also at a spiritual intuition level for real. For spiritual reasons as to my beliefs about what would or wouldn't succeed in preventing illness such as this and incidents, I have the understanding in my mind now that the fistula is actually likely if things have gone this far now. I see it as an escalation which is designed to take me to my limits, in such a complex way as to jack all areas of my life into thier max on all capacities, in order to cause a critical paradigm shift in my life as a result. I believe this will lead to healing ultimately, but I predict the fistula is to be expected on the way there.
The fistula sucks cause it's another major surgery under anesthetic, and if it is this, I may be looking at repeated ER visits ongoingly to keep addressing the abscess over the time until we can get this figured out :( I'll come back once I've spoken again with my doctor about it more. Now I'm really really looking forward to speaking to the colorectal surgeon specialist the ER referred me to previously. It's almost time for me to call sae since I haven't gotten a call yet, and I will soon.
A breathing toy that was lent to me by OR for recovery ongoing as therapy after having the tube in my throat after anesthetic. You push breathe into it and try to make the ball reach the happy face and the level to the highest tier.
Oh yeah and also, after the surgery how my health was : They put a tube in my throat for the surgery and drying medication into my mouth and throat so I had a TERRIBLE cough and dry throat which turned to a serious hoarse loss of my voice. But thankfully with strepsils losenges administered by nurses eventually, I finally got my voice back and came out of the danger zone of a throat infection as a result. When I got home my neighbour offered to pick things up for me at the drug mart, and I asked for strepsils and fluconazole, and sae graciously paid for it <3 )). It was the sweetest thing and now I know strepsils.
The pain was absolutely terrible after the surgery but I felt cleaner in my whole system by far. It felt like such a relief to have all that stuff out of me, on a deep level, making the pain feel so bearable. I was coping alright with just tylenol. It was very painful to get up and walk or anything and I could only shuffle slowly. But the lady next to me had diabetes I guess or some extreme diabetes and other things, and sae's pain was far worse than mine (cry). Sometimes I was racked with fear for my neighbour, and I called on Archangel Michael and the family of light to do healings on me, sae, sae's husband in another hospital for sae's heart, and all the people in the hospital and beyond this might apply to, if they would consent. It was so emotional for me and so moving and beautiful to hear the nurses helping the neighbour. So I didn't complain of my own pain.
One thing I want to also mention is that the amount of doctors, surgeons and nurses who I spoke with incredibly indepth about so many things was just mindblowing. It's as if I conversed with like 100 professionals at that building. I learned so much about so many different kinds of professionals who work there. In addition to nurses, doctors and surgeons too there are also porters (who transport you on stretcher to other wards) and vampires (lol) as sae called it, peopel who only collect blood (lol). I really was constantly buzzing with conversatio with soooo many the whole time.
Anyway, I have 3-7 days of initial recovery to go through after the surgery and 2 weeks precisely, just as directed on my discharge, I have a follow up appointment with my GP / family doctor. I'll do separate posts for the recovery process and that later follow up.
So anyway, there are just some stories I'd like to share now as well. I just want to say as well, the ward that I was in after the surgery (I think it's called The General Ward), that was JUST like movies and TV of hospitals (lol). It was probably more Canadian and more woke, but the thing is seriously, it was JUUUUST like ANY hospital scene in the movies. It's true enough that most of what I've learned about surgeries like this have been from TV etc and I couldn't believe this ward was ALL THOSE SHOWS. With the nurses in almost an Americanly grounded and down to Earth style :) It really wasn't that way in the neurology ward on the first night.
The neurology ward was that more modern and sophisticated sense that real life is not like TV, it's far more sophisticated and specialized to each scenario and you must know of education to understand, not TV. But yeah (lol). General was "General Hospital" or any shows like that (lol).
And I totally love sharing the meals there because I found those meals to be just like the ward, like THE vintage retro since the 90's, the 60's, all that, even earlier too, such a history to it, such a classic. You know? I appreciated that historical effect to the hospital so much. The hospital really has been built on history as how it was formed and has not bent to modernization but has instead upgraded itself only purely in a medical / science / technology / culturally woke way. But has maintained all that old-fashioned style. That to me is golden.
And the rec room kinda said it all too :))
But the OR wasn't really like the show OR, and I'd say the ER was more like Doogie Howzer I guess than the show ER. I used to watch ER and OR on cable in the 90's and no — the show OR could not possibly do it justice.
And ER, you know, I used to hate it with such a passion, but now I get the ER so much better than before. It's obviously such a bare minimum space and very hard on you making you wait in chairs even with crazy conditions and it's so sparse. But I totally get the picture now : The ER really is just the lobby of the hospital. You are not even admitted yet when you're in ER. That place is a freak out just incase it's hardcore to admit you, and it's dark and hardcore in some ways I'd say, but it's at least really solid and cool about all these professionals who have so many skills in quickly assessin an issue with not much information. And with compliments going to each part, I would throw it out there that I am more than impressed with ER's ability to undersand people who mutter softly, who barely speak, who can't speak really, and all that. I've seen some amazing things done wtih actually comprehending people who I wouldn't be able to at all comprehend.
But yeah, also about TV in the General ward. My neighbour with the diabetes was watching Tiktok as TV and it often had clips of Judge Judy, and it was on a low volume, but I heard this ongoingly. I really enjoyed that comforting murmur of "TV" playing like a homey atmosphere. This person's TikTok was actually an interesting algorithm feed. All totally fascinated with judgement, social judgement and legal, in complexities of matters :)
There was also one patient there who I saw early on when I was out the front puffing on my vape for a moment during ER. This person looked so rough. Msybe sae had been stabbed. It was like, rough and hardcore yet I got a psychic vibe off the person really well that we are beautifully like minded in some very inspiring ways, such as knowing brujeria is the source of problems sometimes in the mind and that bands can help it and stuff like that. I didn't know, I thought I wouldn't see that person again, but sae ended up being situated in a room near me in the General ward. Every time I passed by to my room sae woul dbe there and would make eye contact with me. Progressively over the 3 days, by the end, sae was looking SO MUCH HEALTHIER !!!! I saw ser face just blooming with clean light. Sae smiled a glowing smile at me :) We remembered each other from that rough time outside the ER <3% ))
I was totally allowed to pop out when needed now and then, at good times, for controlled time periods, to go vape out front. My vaping habit is usually constant so I was surprised that I only needed to go out to vape like a few times a day for 15-20 mins. At times I had an IV attached to me, so I had to actually drag the IV on wheels around with me so carefully and delicately, in a gown, to go outside and vape (lol). I was crouched over because my abdonimal pain was so bad, and only shuffling, so I REALLY looked like the TV show role of the sick person hobbling along like that with an IV in a gown (lol).
But no, it was really really big with the pain. 2 days after being discharged at this time, only last night was I able to sleep on my side at all. I still need tylenol to sleep at all. So imagine then. It was totally hardcore. I mean sitting on a curb to vape felt ike a miracle to be able to sit in such an awkward position so long. I tried just standing but even that has its own pressures. I was a total champ :) <3
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