Well, for the last week I had been battling stomach flu. Fever, stomach pains, nausea, etc. Really wanted to cut wood since the weather was great and I had time, but it just didn't happen. End of last week I went to the doctor since I just couldn't get over this stomach flu. A couple of hours later I'm in the ER. Turns out my stomach flu was appendicitis! Had to spend a couple of days in the hospital and even though I'm home now I'm a bit limited for the next week or two with what I can do. I had been hoping to have the cutting for this winter done by mid-February but that ain't happenin' now. Kids are helping haul in wood and keep the fire going, and I'm just counting down the days until I can be active again!
Same thing happened to me right after New Year's. Really bad timing too - I was just running out of wood on the front porch, I still had a couple days left on my Christmas/New Years vacation, and we had decent weather. I woke up at 4am with really bad stomach pain and it just got worse through the day. By 8pm my mom was driving me to the hospital. I thought mine was appendicitis too, but it turned out to be an intestinal infection, so I didn't need surgery - yet. Had it gotten worse, it would have required 2 surgeries - first they would remove the bad part of my intestine, and I'd be on a colostomy bag for a couple months while it healed. Then they'd open me back up and reattach everything. I know how much that sucks... Get well soon!
Glad to hear you on the road to recovery. If you happen to have your appendix taken out, recommend they use a sharp chainsaw to cut you...
Hey, Shawn, sounds like diverticulitis. If so, hope they gave you good advice about foods to avoid to prevent a recurrence. Interesting note about appendicitis: It virtually disappeared with the advent of proper preservation of food. My Dad was a cancer specialist,/colorectal surgeon. In the 1970's he had a patient present with severe abdominal pain. Dad had seen plenty of appendicitis in his early years and diagnosed the problem immediately, admitted the patient for emergency surgery. Word quickly spread at the hospital and, to his surprise, most of the residents and interns appeared to observe the case, as none of them had ever seen an appendectomy performed. This was at a big teaching hospital in NYC. With the advent of health food stores, and less than sanitary handling of food at many of them and at bulk food stores, appendicitis reappeared as a health threat. If you eat only properly preserved, clean fresh, or properly frozen foods, you will not get appendicitis.
I wish you the best and speedy recovery red oak! Sometimes these things can be positive. Time to relax for a while.
Heh, my brother had an emergency removal and the scar sure looked like they used a dull chain saw. He still has a hole he can stick his finger in.
Get better red oak ... that wood will be right there when you're feeling 100%. Relax and heal. Bet the kids like being able to do something that really helps too, by bringing in the firewood.
My wife had an EMERGENCY!! apendectomy senior year of high school. We were out fishing one day and that morning she had mild complaints of stomach pain. By lunch time I knew something was wrong. I ran her to the hospital and within the hour she was in surgery. Surgeon said if we had waited much longer it would have burst. She still has a pretty nasty scar 10 years later.
Wow, glad to hear you got it taken care of Red! Now listen to the docs (and your wife) and take it easy til you heal up.....plenty of time later for processing wood.....
Hey red oak, many of us have been in similar situations. No, it is not pleasant but the good part is that you will get better. Now enjoy some rest and let the little ones help. Most times if they get a chance to help dad out when he is not up to par it will make them feel really good. I always looked at it as one more lesson for the kids; part of growing.
Back in 2000 when I had my appendix removed, I was explaining the symptoms to the surgeon and he said mine was a textbook case, in his 37 years as a surgeon he had done multiple appendectomies and mine was the first textbook case he had ever seen.
Thats a real bummer Red oak, glad to hear they could get you taken care of. Good time to spend with the kids and sounds like they are some good helpers.
