Do we have an appendix?

Nope, we have no appendix. It's removed along with the colon. One less body part that can't go bad on us!

A side note funny.....my mother was angry at the docs when she found out my appendix was removed....angry bc they never told us that would happen. Funny, doesn't surprise me they left that bit of into out. Although, that's the least of the info they left out!

As for me, I was totally fine with that. Agreed, one less body part to worry about!

Ha ha, my surgeon never mentioned it either but its attached so there isn't much choice in the matter!

My surgeon told me afterwards...I wasn't upset at all...one less risk of emergency surgery...
Sharon

This appendix question always baffles me. Anyone who looks at a diagram of the digestive system can see that it would be impossible romove the large bowel and somehow leave the appendix. It would be a tiny organ attached to nothing.

I think it's just that we aren't thinking about another organ "diappearing" when the colon is removed. It comes as a surprise, but understandable.

kta, I completely relate to not wanting another doc visit. It gets super old after being poked and proded endlessly.

It very well could be scar tissue. I remember weird feelings like that in the early years of my post-op and I , too, had scar tissue.

On the other hand, if you have any concerns, it's worth a call to the doc...As much as I know you don't want to.

((HUGS))

Right upper quadrant pain could be gall bladder (or adhesions or...). The good news is that an ultrasound is usually what's ordered to assess this, and it's painless and fairly quick.

Sorry, my spikey response was not so much to the original post, but to those who actually get agitated about this, like Kia's mother.
Definitely check the gall bladder--j-pouchers are more prone to gall stones.

I've posted this here before so forgive me for the repeat. New residents start at hospitals on July 1st across the US, so this should come with a warning to avoid hospitals at all costs at that time (or any time).

Anyway, first week of July following my surgery, I had unusual and acute pain in my lower abdomen and I called my surgeon's office. It was 4th of July weekend and he told me to go to the ER to have it checked. A brand-spankin' new resident did my history, examined me and announced that he was going to send me for an ultrasound because he thought it was my appendix. I repeated (very slowly) that I had a colectomy so I didn't think it was my appendix. That went right over his head -- he didn't at all get what I was saying (ummm, HELLO! Colectomy = no appendix!) and he repeated that it could be my appendix and that he was sending me for an ultrasound.

My husband and I looked at each other and it was hard not to laugh. In a mock panic, I told him that my surgeon said that appendix issues could be FATAL following a colectomy and asked him if he would IMMEDIATELY go tell his attending physician right now that he had a post-colectomy patient with an appendix issue, STAT! And off he went...poor kid. My husband was cringing and telling me that I was mean.

The attending physician came in a few minutes later, highly annoyed and said "You think you're funny, don't you?" We never saw the resident again, thankfully but I'll bet he never forgot that lesson...

LOL, great story Brezzie.

I didn't even know they took the appendix when we had the colon removed until after surgery. Dr. told me they found a tumor (thankfully was not cancerous) in my appendix. But who knows later down the road if it could have turned into cancer. So that was an unforeseen positive thing happen.

OMG, that is the funniest story I have read in a long time. Trust me, he needed that lesson. Maybe next time he'll LISTEN a little better to the patient.

I asked one of the residents in my surgery to take a photo of my colon after they took it out -- I knew that residents usually have their iPhones in the OR with them because my doctor friends sometimes text me photos of giant hairballs or freaky tumors they've removed from patients (yes they're super mature). Anyway, a few days later he stopped by my room to show me the photos and get my email address, and I asked him to tell me which parts were which so I could get oriented. "Here's the ascending, transverse, descending... there's your appendix..." "WHAT?"

So I probably would have thought I still had an appendix for a LONG time if I hadn't asked for those photos

Breezie, in the last three years since the last 2 UC flares and then three operations, I sometimes had the feeling I was a part-time professional patient. So I always love stories about doctors who are too arrogant to notice when they're being complete idiots. Good, quick thinking on your part. I think I would have taken a pen and paper and drawn him a picture of what the collectomy is. (I have a collection of colon sketches from every GI I've seen in three different countries and they are all hilarious somehow).

My appendix was removed years ago, when I was 15, so I never gave a thought to it being in the deal when I had my colectomy 2 years ago this April.

Thanks everyone. I was nervous I'd post and no one would respond. I'll call my doc Monday. Gallstones sound much less threatening than appendix issues. And I agree - I'm glad the thing is gone. I never want to be opened up again.

Well...I hate to burst your bubble, but the only cure for gall stones is cholecystectomy--gall bladder removal--which may or may not be possible to do laparoscopically, depending on the amount of scar tissue/ adhesions. Of course it may NOT be your gall bladder at all, just some of those adhesions.

quote:

I've posted this here before so forgive me for the repeat. New residents start at hospitals on July 1st across the US, so this should come with a warning to avoid hospitals at all costs at that time (or any time).

I so second Breezie's advice. I had my 2nd of 3 surgeries on Friday the 13th in July. Bad, bad omens...

I did something mature as well. When the team of doctors/residents came in, the head doctor was all full of himself and, of course, I didn't exist. I was a cadaver apparently. DAMN BRIAN was sitting next to me. The big doc finally noticed I was living and breathing and asked if I had any questions. I said, "Yes. I'm wondering when I can resume anal sex."

It was like watching the spectators in a tennis match as those doctor's eyes looked at me, looked at DAMN BRIAN, looked at me, looked at DAMN BRIAN. That head doc started stammering and stuttering. He said, "I'll have to ask your surgeon" as he quickly retreated.

Now there is no way I'd let anything near my new plumbing but I was just so irritated with the abhorent lack of care and knowledge, not to mention the ridiculous self-grandiose opinions the doctors had of themselves. (I also had Dr. Ratchett and Dr. Morgan Fairchild who had the most beautiful manicure on her perfectly-shaped, very long nails. How was that even allowed?)

kathy

I didn't know until I asked my surgeon so I think it's a perfectly relevant inquiry.

You crack me up. How come every time you write about him he's DAMN BRIAN?

P.S.
Doctors forget they are our employees. They get paid very well for their services. Condescending medical personnel piss me off. Don't talk to me like I'm a damn idiot and don't make decisions about my care without discussing it with me or my DAMN HUSBAND.

Connie - you didn't reAlly burst the bubble. My husband's family has all had gallbladder surgery. It was just never, except in the case of his father, an emergency. They had issues off and on for years and finally got to the point of needing it taken out. I was just worried about the whole ruptured appendix thing, so knowing I don't have an appendix to rupture was a relief.

Some of those docs sound like idiots. Fortunately, I've always had great ones. I would be scared of going in for an emergency procedure because not many doctors even know how to handle a j-pouch. That, too, was my concern about the appendix.

OMG Breezie and Kathy!!!! LOL! Best stories ever!

Well if its any consolation Kta, if it is your gall bladder, its a relatively simple procedure. I had mine out laparoscopic some years back and I was back to work in a week. Hopefully it's nothing though.

Not all gallstones need to be treated, and there are treatments besides surgical removal of the gallbladder (though that is probably the most common).

Thank you for the Chuckle.

I had a time and a half with a PA who thinks she knows it all.
When I finished with her she ran for cover and then came back saying Please forgive me.
Noone in medicine knows it.You are so right about the month of July. Sadly ,This is when it all happened for me.
Cassiecass

Sorry meant to write Thank you for the Chuckle to Breezie


Cassiecass

I've had several appts with a PA trying to figure out why I'm so tired (all my tests are normal, so still don't know why). Anyway I had tried to explain to her what a j pouch was and told her I usually had to get up once or twice to empty the pouch and she asked me if I could get a bigger bag. Another time we had just been talking about me not having a colon, then she was asking if I was up to date on my mammograms and colonoscopies. I laughed and said, Um, no colon remember?

Tammy did they check the thyroid panel?If so post lab.Did they check ferritin levels?


Did you ask to see your MD?
Sorry I had a PA from ..../As I posted she ran.Where I live she has a name.Trust me
I asked for mds to be called after my first surgery she refused ..oooops mistake.I had a Tsh go up over 70 after first surgery while I was in hospital.
I was denied medical care.Her response was Tsh was no big deal.WRONG.Thyroid disease effects every inch every cell in the body.I had an MI (Heart Attack).
Keep journal of each occurance with the PA.As they chart on you ,you should keep a record on them.

SInce my first surgery I have meet 2 other PA's who were so porfessional and learned.As I told them I guess there is hope in medicine.

Cassiecass

Cassiecass,

My TSH was 1.8 mlU/L and my Ferritan was 51.3.
My RBC was the only thing that showed on the low side at 3.94, with normal being 4.10-5.10, according to them.

We have a little bit of a shortage of regular Drs in my town and you have to be referred to see a Dr with a specialty. There is a Gastro Dr here I have seen a couple of times, but he is not very pro J-Pouch and doesn't seem as good as other Gastro Drs I have seen in Des Moines. So, you usually get to see a PA or a NP here unless you want to drive to Des Moines. Don't trust U of I Clinics anymore, I could have died waiting on a appt from them when my colon got so bad.

quote:

How come every time you write about him he's DAMN BRIAN?

Years ago when I used to participate in Thursday night chat here, we'd all be having a wonderful ol' time. And then Brian would arrive home from work. I'd tell the chat room that I had to go because Brian was home and had to get on the computer to get some work done. (Yeah, back in the dark ages when we only had one computer.)

Dave H, the chat room moderator would start the peanut gallery going and everyone would be typing: "tell damn brian that he can do his work later," tell damn brian that it's more important for you to stay in the chat room," tell damn brian to buy you a damn computer." It was all in jest but the name stuck. When Dave H came to this coast, he and his daughters stayed with us. When his oldest daughter (a pre-teen at that time) greeted Brian, she said, "hi DAMN BRIAN, it's nice to meet you!"

The DAMN BRIAN name is used quite often. DAMN BRIAN doesn't take offense because he knows that those who call him that, love and admire him.

kathy

I figured there was a story under there. You can call people names like that when everyone knows they are the opposite. I used to call my step-mother "wicked" and we'd laugh. She was a great mother that loved unconditionally.

Twilight, what part of our state do you live in? I'm in central Iowa.

I live in Southeast Iowa.

I think we've talked on here before. I wish some of us lived closer

I hope you have a great week and get the help you deserve!