Emergency Appendectomy or Cruise?

[njean]

Greetings to all of you!

Thank you to my dear friend Eva for posting about my absence & thank you for your prayers & well wishes!

Well, for those of you that weren't aware of it, my husband & I should have been enjoying a wonderful Caribbean Cruise last week, but instead, two days prior to our departure date, I had to go into the hospital & have my appendix removed! I apparently presented quite a challenge to the surgeon & doctors due to my existing heart situation & because when the surgeon went in there to remove the appendix, he could not find it right away because it had become trapped in the muck of scar tissue left over from my hysterectomy many years ago! What should have been a 30-45 minute surgery, took 2-1/2 hrs! :eek2:

I spent 6 days in the hospital, longer than normal because my INR took longer to stablize.

Call it bad luck or Divine Intervention, thank God it all happened before we went on that cruise. I am not unpacking our luggage........they are staying just the way they are.....perhaps we'll try it again next year, God willing!

Thanks again & hugs to all of you & sorry that I had not responded to some PM's. Never meant to ignore you!

P.S. Oh yeah before I forget, when the surgeon came in to say goodbye, his last words were, "and you need to get that valve replaced!"

 

[Nancy]

Wow! You have has quite an exciting time, and not in a good way. But happy to see you posting, so I am guessing that all is well now. Sorry you missed your cruise.

 

[Ross]

P.S. Oh yeah before I forget, when the surgeon came in to say goodbye, his last words were, "and you need to get that valve replaced!"

Oh he is a heart surgeon too huh?

 

[Bina]

Oh Norma, this is enough chaos for a while now, you hear? I'm so glad to see you back here, you gave
us all quite a scare and I can't even imagine what it felt like on your end of this horrible adventure.
Sending you hugs, and hope to see you on line soon again.

 

[ottagal]

Great to hear from you Norma Jean! Certainly not the kind of pre cruise surprise you need. Glad that you are on the mend and hope that your surgeon is wrong about the valve needing to be replaced now. . I think you have had enough to deal with!

 

[Jkm7]

Norma,
So sorry to hear you missed your cruise but happy you weren't on the ship when your appendix started getting nasty. We cruise and know they do medical evacs but hope we are never one of them.

Good to hear you are getting back on your feet.
Keep those bags packed and look for a replacement cruise.

 

[karen14]

Aw Norma Jean, that's terrible! All packed and ready to go.... but yeah, glad it didn't happen during the trip! God does work things out in our best interest (even if we don't see it yet). Plus you're very special to many people, and I'm so glad you're doing better! ...Lol, and the comment by the surgeon was interesting! But I'm not one to talk, so I'll just keep my mouth shut there, lol!
Luv ya, ~Karen

 

[nngbwh]

Sorry to hear you cancel your trip but glad you are doing better.

 

[olefin]

Norma Jean good to see you back, hope you're doing better. You're very fortunate that it didn't happen on the ship. Hope you get to go next year.

I understand about having to cancel a cruise. A few years ago I woke up with high fever on the day we were scheduled to fly to Seattle. My wife took the same thing a few days later.

 

[bvdr]

Norma Jean, Wow! What an ordeal! I sure hope you are feeling better. Did you have travel insurance? We had to cancel a cruise once due to my husband being ill but it wasn't as dramatic as that! I'm glad to see you posting and wish you a very speedy recovery.

 

[kpearse]

I'm glad your OK!

 

[Blanche]

My dear Norm:

I am so sorry that you missed your cruise. It's sad when we look forward to something that must be cut loose at the last moment. On the other hand, it has to be comforting to you to be able to deal with your home hospital and doctors for your problem.

I hope you heal quickly and are able to find a cruise that you will love soon.

My most kindest regards to your and yours,
Blanche

 

[Luana]

Glad to read you're home and doing well!

 

[Missy]

Glad that you are back, Norma! Were you in the hospital in L. C. ? I would have went to see you if you were there and if I had known sooner.

 

[Jeanie]

Yikes, so glad you got that taken care of but what a bummer on the timing. Did the Doctor stick around long enough for you to knock him upside the head for telling you you need a valve replacement!? I hope he was joking, seems like you've had enough of those already.

 

[catwoman]

Norma Jean:

Glad you're doing so much better now. What a "vacation"!

 

[Jan]

Hi Norma

Good too see you back on line, sorry you missed you cuise,

take care

Jan xx

 

[njean]

Thank you all for your well wishes!

I forgot to mention in my original post, about 5 to 6 days prior to me having the horrible pains in my adominal area, my heart had been beating very irregular. It would race & then slow down, then race again....very disturbing especially when I was lying down. But, I attributed it to the stress of making sure everything we needed was packed, meeting with the pet sitter, house watchers, etc.

In fact, when I finally made up my mind that something serious was going on with me & asked my husband to take me to my PCP, when he examined me he said that my heart was beating 200 beats per/minute! :eek2: And he had me transported to the hospital immediately by ambulance as I was "going down fast" as he put it!

I really sweated this one out folks but I was very lucky to have the team of doctors that I had, cardiologist, PCP, surgeon, all communicating together to get me through the whole ordeal alive!

And yes, we did have travel insurance so we will be reimbursed for everything. With my history, I wouldn't dare plan a trip without insurance!

Thanks & hugs again to all of you & it's sure nice to be back!

P.S.

I guess the anesthesia & combination of drugs really took a toll on me this time around. According to my husband, one night I demanded to know what he had done with the gorilla in the newspaper & then another time, I started hanging curtains on some high ceiling windows which caused me to pull out all my IV's! :eek2:

 

[BDMc]

Norma, This isn't the kind of excitement you had planned. So very glad you are able to post about it now, and fill us in. I hope you two will get to go on the cruise another time. Love from your valve bro, Brian

 

[Wise]

Norma, this takes stay-cation to a whole new level. I don't it's a trend that will catch on though. Just glad you're doing okay, other that pulling out your IVs and losing your gorilla. Best wishes and prayers being sent for your speedy recovery!