At the end of the year, on December 31st, at noon, diarrhea started and I felt a little uncomfortable. I have a lot of diarrhea, so I was wondering if I ate something wrong yesterday, but after going to the bathroom for the third or fourth time after dinner, my stomach started to sore around 8 p.m. Normally, after diarrhea, everything should be reset and my stomach should be relaxed, but that day, I had a few strange diarrhea episodes, but my stomach started to hurt. I took vitamins on an empty stomach before dinner, and I thought maybe it was because of that, so I took a pill of buscopan and went to bed early.
Since around 10 p.m., there has been no medicinal effect and my stomach has been sore, but the strange thing is that the corner of my right lower abdomen hurts slightly, but when I press on it, it starts to hurt even more. I tried to sleep thinking it was weird, but as the night wore on, I couldn’t sleep because of the abdominal pain, and the pain in my lower right abdomen became clearer and clearer. From this point on, just in case, I started searching the internet for appendicitis symptoms. You can also search for related English expressions. (Because if you go to the hospital, you have to use it)
At about 2:30 a.m., my wife woke up and asked me if I was okay with my stomach ache, but I told her that I suspected an appendix and agreed to go to the emergency room. If my wife hadn’t woken up at this time and asked me, maybe I would have kept holding on to my sore stomach and just browsing the internet and growing sick. Personally, I don’t take painkillers for some reason, but if I took painkillers for no reason and didn’t hurt much today, I might have gotten a good night’s sleep and woke up in the morning, my condition might have gotten worse.
Since today is January 1st, I am worried that if I call 000, the ambulance will come on time, so I decide to just drive. My wife has been suffering from insomnia for the past few days, so when I was driving, my stomach hurt when I stepped on the accelerator, so I twisted my body a little bit to drive.
There are two emergency rooms closest to the north of Perth, Joondalup Hospital and Royal Perth Hospital in the city, but Royal Perth Hospital is the oldest hospital in Perth in terms of image, so it was a little more reliable, but since it was the end of the year, the emergency room would be crowded with children coming in from the city, so I decided to go to Joondalup. For some reason, it was a hospital outside of Perth, so I was a little worried about the level of doctors and patients, but it turned out to be a very good decision.
When I arrived at the emergency room, it was 2:30 a.m. Luckily there were only about 3 people waiting. The ticket machine was broken, so I explained to the receptionist who was just hanging out why I came, gave him my basic personal information and Madi Care number, and sat down on a plastic chair that you might see in a baseball stadium and waited. After waiting for a while, the nurse and the nurse again tell me where to go, and give me my name, contact information, and personal details of the guardian and wait again. I was in a cold sweat because the chairs were uncomfortable, and it was hard for me to hold my head up, so I curled up like a homeless person on three chairs. Thankfully, the Asian cleaning lady nearby brought me something to cover. I feel it every time I come to the hospital, but I feel that there are so many grateful and kind people in the world.
I’ve heard a lot of stories about people who went to the emergency room because they were so sick that they waited for hours because there were a lot of people and then they were finally given painkillers and went home, but I was able to get into the emergency room bed in about 30 minutes. I’ve been hospitalized before, so just in case, I brought my phone charger, two pairs of underwear, and a toothbrush. After all, it is a wise choice for an experienced person.
First of all, they will draw blood and test for an inflammatory response, and then they will do basic temperature, blood pressure, and ECG tests, and then they will wait for further tests, and they will tell you that it is probably appendicitis, and that they will have surgery. After a while, I took 4 painkillers that the nurse brought me, and after about an hour, I felt that the pain was slowly calming down. Coming to the hospital for the first time and feeling helped.
For some reason, on the bed next to the curtain, there is a drunken young woman screaming and crying. After all, the emergency room has such an atmosphere. The machine that checks the heart rate attached to the body goes off in the emergency room all night long every time it changes to a certain value, which makes me feel uncomfortable.
My wife, who came with me, is now going home, and I am going to have a CT scan of my abdomen. When I asked if the machine was new because it was shiny, I was told that it was a new image that had just come in. In the past, it took about 30 minutes to do a CT scan with an old machine at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, but this new machine only took 3 times to get the body in and out. It took me about 5 minutes to get out of the machine. According to the cinematographer, it takes about an hour to get the results.
After a while, a young and confident Asian surgeon named Dr Yong came and told me that it was appendicitis and that he was going to remove the appendix by laparoscopic (key hole) surgery, but if the appendix burst and the inflammation spreads with a low probability, he could perform open surgery, and he signed a consent form. With the saying that it is unlikely, but you won’t know until you open it. Like many Asian doctors, he didn’t have a very businesslike look and a friendly way of speaking, but he seemed to be able to perform the surgery well. He said it was an emergency surgery and the surgery would be done today.
Since I haven’t eaten since dinner, I think I’ve met the conditions for fasting before surgery. When I came to the emergency room, my mouth was parched, so I put water in a cup and was moistening my throat little by little, but a new nurse found it in the early morning and took away the cup of water, saying that I shouldn’t eat anything while fasting with a straight face. I thought it would be okay if it wasn’t food and just a little thirst, but wasn’t it? After that, about 10 nurses kept changing during the 1 night and 2 days in the hospital, but the nurse in the surgery ward told me that it was okay to eat. After all, everyone who asks has a different answer. So, if you get sick, you can’t just trust what the doctor/nurse says, and you have to search the internet at the same time.
After a while, the nurse in the operating room came to me and told me that I was going to have surgery today, and I pressed my stomach a few times with basic questions. When I was doing coronary artery imaging in Sydney, the professor in charge had the impression that he would enjoy dissection a little, so I was a little scared.
At this point, I was given a shot in the lower abdomen with an anti-blood clot injection, the 4-hour fluid was already coming to an end, and I was given an antibiotic IV tube for surgery for about 30 minutes, and I am waiting for surgery. Compression stockings to prevent blood clots from forming on the legs. After the surgery, a blood clot formed in the vein while lying down for a long time, and if it went up to the head, it would cause a cerebral infarction. It was intended to fit the size of the legs.
When I was hospitalized in the past, the hardest thing was waiting, so this time I was preparing for that part psychologically, so I tried to be at ease. The nurse told me that I could go directly to the Theater or the Ward, and I thought it was a good name for an operating room, but I understood it as an operating room in the context, and I thought it was a good name for an operating room. Later, when I went upstairs, I saw the name Theater flashing on the display board in the waiting room.
Was it about 8 o’clock? They give me breakfast, they give me a meal and tea at some seats, but I have to fast, so I’m waiting for them to stay on with fluids. A young man came and moved his bed to the internal medicine ward on the next floor. He said that he likes K-pop and feels that Korean girls are well dressed, and a chiseled young man who seems to be popular at the night out with a feeling of the MZ generation puts up a bed for him and brings him pillows and blankets. In fact, the nurse here takes care of the rest after you move it, but I wonder if you have become a little close to me while we talk about Korean culture.
I moved to the L1 ward. It is said to be a place where patients who are waiting for visceral and recovering patients stay. Surprisingly a single room with a large window. I’m not even the youngest son of a rich family, and I’m staying in a single room. I’m going to be lucky this year. When I asked, he said that since Covid, the hospital rooms have been made into single rooms as much as possible, and the ventilation system for each room has been made separately to make it safe for Covid. When I was admitted to the hospital in Sydney, I was only shown TV and newspapers to people who paid for them, but here there are no newspapers, but the TV is free, and it’s a single room, so I just watch what I want to watch. In a way, it may be a small part in terms of cost, but it is difficult for the patient, but it is a little sad if even such a trivial thing is discriminated against with money.
One of the questions the nurse often asked was when is the last time you open bowel, but I didn’t know what it was, but it turned out to be a question about when was the last time you had a bowel? I was asked the same question when I was in the emergency room, but I didn’t understand it and I said I never opened my bowel, but the nurse just moved on, so I thought I answered well, but the nurse was so busy that she ignored my misconception and made a rough entry on the chart.Besides that, did you pass gas after surgery? There was a similar question, but I understood that you were asking if I farted and I answered yes.
After a urine test in the emergency ward, I am ready for surgery. Another thing that I felt really fortunate was that I didn’t have any special allergies and that I was at least healthy enough to have surgery in various tests.
From now on, there is no waiting until the surgery. It was almost 12 o’clock, so I asked him to go up to the operating room, and when I went up, I saw that it was the theater.
When I was transferred to the operating bed, I was covered with a warm blanket. When I had a coronary artery imaging in Sydney, I was lying on a bed with a stan, and it really felt like I was being dissected, but at least this surgery bed was soft, so I felt a little more comfortable. The surgical nurse I saw in the emergency room greeted me with ‘I’m finally here’ and the anesthesiologist who looked like he was of Indian descent came and gave me a brief guide on anesthesia and asked me where I was from, and when I told him that I was Korean, he said that he knew the cheering voice of ‘Dae~Korea, 👏👏 ~👏👏👏’ and expressed his friendliness. In the past, when I said Korea, my first reaction was about North Korea, but nowadays K-pop, K-dramas, etc., have improved a lot. Everywhere you go, you feel more or less welcome.
While I was in the hospital, I think it was good to be able to relieve tension with people from various fields, even though it was only a short momentary meeting.
After being moved to the operating bed, I waited for about 20 minutes and went to the bathroom one last time. I was taken to the operating room at about 1:15 p.m. and the anesthesia started, and I don’t remember the last time I breathed gas like in the drama.
I woke up from the anesthesia at almost 3 o’clock, but when I opened my eyes, I saw that one of my front teeth had been pressed hard, and it hurt a lot, and my upper lip was bursting nearby. The bronchial tubes are also quite tingling, but I guess it was because I put the oxygen tube in and out. When I entered the operating room, I couldn’t call my wife, so I hurriedly picked up the cell phone that the nurse kept and called me to say that the surgery went well, and I also contacted my home in Korea through KakaoTalk.
I regained consciousness, but my sleep continued to pour in, and I kept waking up without even having the mind to open the sandwich that was supposed to be a special meal after surgery. It was almost dinner time, so I removed the oxygen tube from my nose and went to the bathroom to urinate for the first time. When I first woke up, my stomach hurt, but I was so dizzy that I almost collapsed slightly. The first time you move after anesthesia, you have to move a little. The nurse next to me told me to “move slowly.”
I couldn’t even touch the sandwich and orange juice and apple that came out at lunch, but I asked if I wanted tea or coffee, so I took a cup of hot tea and just moistened my mouth, I knew that in Korea, the post-operative meal should be after farting, and that it usually starts with porridge and the normal meal is only a few days later, but the special food after the surgery is a sandwich, so I wonder if Western culture is so different or if Westerners’ stomachs are different from ours.
For dinner, we had small bread, curry rice, cider, pudding, and ice cream. Ice cream for a surgical patient. Everything was delicious, but my stomach was full of gas and I wasn’t confident in my digestion, so I only tasted about 80% of the rice and the rest in one bite. When I looked at the entrance of the room, it was clearly labeled as a special meal, but it was curry rice and ice cream. And from tomorrow, even that has changed to a normal meal. Honestly, I’m not sure what the difference is.
Tea or coffee was served immediately after the meal and once between meals. If I was hungry in the meantime or at night, I could ask for something else. An Indian nurse who was a night shift came and took my blood pressure at night and asked if I could get a sandwich if I was hungry. I was given injections in my thighs to prevent blood clog, and antibiotics every half a day.
It was quiet because it was a single room, and I was wearing a very thin gown than usual because it was a patient gown, but I slept comfortably on the first day after surgery because I slept with two blankets. Of course, the nurse woke me up every 4 hours to take my blood pressure.
This long, tumultuous January 1, 2023 day has come to an end.
The day after surgery
Thanks to the painkillers, my stomach hurt but it wasn’t very uncomfortable. When the nurse asked me if I wanted to give her painkillers (maybe every 4 hours), I thought I didn’t have to take them because it hurt a lot, but the nurse said, ‘Are you sure,’ so I quickly lowered my tail and took the painkillers. Maybe it’s the painkillers that hurt right now.
For breakfast, there was a weet-bix meal of a whole grain snacks, cellar milk, fruit salad, cider and toast.
I was able to move around lightly, so I picked up my pants and went for a walk in the hospital room, looking around the ward. After the surgery, I tried to walk as much as I could, as it was recommended to walk as often as possible without overdoing it.
Around 9 o’clock, the nurse who operated on me yesterday came in for a round, with two people by her side. It was surprising that the doctor didn’t come in person, but there must have been a good reason for that. The nurse said it was a severe inflammation and luckily it didn’t burst. If it had happened, it would have been converted to open surgery, which would have complicated the surgery, and it would have required a long hospitalization and a difficult recovery.
Because of the severe inflammation, he was told that he could be discharged immediately after another homeostatic injection at 1 p.m. When you leave the hospital, you will have to take penicillin antibiotics for five days. He also prescribed me a very strong painkiller, but I hope I don’t have to take it.
At about half past twelve, my wife came to me just in time for my discharge, and I was discharged from the hospital after receiving all the injections and eating the lunch that was already there.
Last night, I asked the nurse on the night shift for a medical certificate, and she told me that I should talk to the doctor about the morning rounds, but the surgical nurse stayed too short during the rounds, so I couldn’t tell her, but when I asked the nurse who worked in the morning, she gave me a certificate that I was not suitable for work for two weeks.
I signed the discharge papers, listened to the prescription explained, and was discharged from the hospital with the unbelievable informing that I didn’t need to follow up because the glue on my stomach would disappear automatically, and that I could take a shower right away.
I had surgery on January 1st, and I thought it was going to be a great start to the year, but I was very lucky to be able to have the surgery on the day I was admitted to the hospital. Many people are unable to get a doctor assigned to them, so they stay on painkillers for 2-3 days and then have surgery at a late date or pay for surgery at a private hospital.
I looked it up and found out that an appendectomy in Australia costs about $6,000 without insurance, and if you add the cost of using the room, consultation with a specialist, CT scan, and other procedures and injections, the total cost is probably about ten thousand dollars. I understand that most of this treatment is covered by Medicare because it was done in a public hospital, but if there is a certain amount of personal expense that you have to pay, I wonder if there will be a bill related to it.
After discharge from the hospital
After work, I would take sick leave and rest at home, but the antibiotics were harsh, so I had to lie down in bed again after taking the medicine in the morning. As I wrap up this post, today is the fifth day after I was discharged from the hospital, and for the first time since I was discharged, I am sitting at my desk and using my computer. I took antibiotics in the morning, but other than I feel a little dizzy, I’m fine. After taking the weekend off, I don’t think it’s too difficult to work. I’m glad I can work from home.
It’s my second hospitalization in Australia, and I feel it every time, but when I work for an Australian company, they take a lot of care when I get sick. Maybe I’m just lucky, but I guess that’s the Commonwealth culture. They let me take enough sick leave without worrying about the company, allowed me to work from home and gradually return to work without having to rush back to the office, and yesterday the company sent me a basket of fruit.
Once again, health is the best. However, there are many cases where I can’t control them. When things get tough, the only way to do it is to be a little foolish and do the best you can, believing that things will work out.
PS. Recovery Progress
For the first week, I spent a lot of time in bed because I was still in such pain that I was still worried about the surgery and my body was so tired from the harsh antibiotics.
In the second week, I feel my body’s energy coming back to life. I started working from home, and the side effects are that the surgery site is almost painless, but as long as I don’t do excessive movements (lifting heavy things that put pressure on my stomach, etc.), I can do it in my daily life. You can also drive. But keep your meals still centered around digestibility. Started drinking coffee.
From the third week, he is almost back to normal. Meals can be bread, flour foods, or spicy foods, and the operating seat is very comfortable as long as it does not put a lot of pressure on the stomach and twist it.