My 31 year old sister had emergency surgery at 5:30 this morning- she had appendicitis and had to have her appendix out. They are moving her to a room right now. Any one know how long they will keep her in the hospital? Or how long her recovery will be? I want to go over and help her once she gets home because her jerk of a husband won't do anything (that's a whole other story).
Have a great day Mamas!
Depends on whether her appendix ruptured or not. If it did not rupture, she should be out in 3 days or so - maybe less. If it did rupture they will keep her in for about twice that long (?) because the infection spread a lot more then. I think these days they do most appendectomies laproscopically, so the recovery should be a lot easier than when I had mine out in the 1980's and they had to make a big cut.
A friend of mine had her appendix removed over Christmas and they only kept her in the hospital for a few days. She seemed to be okay after a week or two.
My husband had his out when our now nine week old was two weeks. he was 31 as well, funny. Recovery time depends on if she had the laporoscopic or the full open. For both they stay in the hospital until they at least pass gas, but preferably have a BM. Usually 2 days or so. Intestinal surgery is like labor, your digestive system shuts down for a bit, so they need to be sure it's working again, she needs to walk to help it get back on track. With the lap there will be three 1 inch incisions, one in the belly button and one on either side. That one heals pretty well and most seem to be pretty ok again after about a week, two to feel well again. The full open is what my husband got (he was one of 20% whose appendix is in the wrong place), and that is the equivalent of getting a c-section and you can treat it like one. Make her take her pain pills and avoid lifting.
You're a great sister, good luck!
I had my appendix out via emergency surgery last September. It did not rupture and they performed the surgery laparoscopically (sp?). I had my surgery around midnight after being in the ER since 4:30pm and was released the next day around dinnertime. It was very painful but because the incisions were small healed very well. Since I have 2 small kids and lots of stairs I needed help for about a week. Also, I could not drive as long as I was taking the painkillers and I needed those for around 5 days. Lifting the kids was a no-no so had to adjust my kids expectations. The goods news is that once you are healed up you feel really good. My appendix had apparently been inflamed for some time which caused a lot of discomfort. You are a great sister for helping out! Make sure your sister is up and moving around to help get all the gas out of her system from the surgery (sorry so grahic). A lot of initial pain in the hospital was from that.
Hi A.,
My father had his gall bladder out (somewhat emergency - he passed out at work with chest pains, they thought he was having a heart attack and then discovered it was gall bladder so they removed it same day within a few hours of going into the emergency room), it was done laparoscopic (sp?) and he was out within 24 hours since he had no complications. If her surgery was done the same way, I imagine her recovery will be pretty quick as the incisions are smaller. My father didn't need anything more than Tylenol for a couple days, but was off work for a week after because he was doing physical labor (HVAC guy for new home builder, doing stuff on the roof and lots of heavy lifting). He's also not one of those 'tough macho man' types... he is a big baby when he's sick :)
I imagine she'll recover pretty quickly barring any complications of course. I would offer her help for as long as she thinks she needs it... if her husband is as much a jerk as you say, she's probably a pretty strong woman who's used to doing a lot herself anyway :)
Hope you're sister recovers well... she's lucky to have you around to help her out :)
