I had my appendix taken out 6 weeks ago (to the day today - fun times) just hours before it likely would have ruptured, per my surgeon. My understanding is that if the appendix ruptures, you're guaranteed about a month long hospital stay*. It's because appendicitis happens when there's an infection/puss build up so if it ruptures the gross stuff spreads all through the body and the doctors have to get it all out. It can also be fatal so I actually do get why Sharon and Dawn rushed out to Cali.
* = I'm in the UK so the hospital stay might be different elsewhere but I remember a family friend having a ruptured appendix when we lived in BC, Canada and I'm pretty sure she was in for a good 4 weeks then.
It might be a bit different in the States because, well, sometimes they'll only keep you in the hospital as long as insurance is willing to pay. Once that runs out? You're on your own.
Yikes, sorry you're having to deal with this right now! Hope you're doing better, and thanks for the insight.
Yeah, I get how the insurance thing works in the US (family and lots of friends there). But I think if Jeff's appendix actually burst, he would have been in for 3+ weeks. Not because of the incision, because of the puss spreading through his body. All that stuff has to come out and it takes awhile. I can just picture the lawsuits that would happen if someone died due to blood poisoning because they were forced out of the hospital!
I'm fine, mine was caught before it burst. Even still, as I commented below, I was kicked out of the hospital less than 12 hours after I came to from the surgery. Universal health care is awesome, but when the taxpayer is footing the bill, they want the bed back ASAP.
i just asked my boyfriend, who had his appendix out when he was 18. he said he was back on his feet within a week or two--well enough to take a greyhound bus from massachusetts to north carolina. my understanding is that the appendix thing is a WAY bigger deal if it has actually burst, & if that was the sitch with jeff, i could understand dawn flying to california, because a person can die from that. but it sounds like it was just a basic appendectomy. i really don't think dawn needed to be there for that. if jeff still lived in stoneybrook, would sharon have kept dawn home from school to keep vigil at his bedside?
i'm pretty sure the hobarts have always been redheads. wasn't there something in one of the books about mallory feeling bonded with ben because they both have red hair & glasses? (although mallory has occasionally been described as a brunette, so who the hell knows?)
Jeff did have a ruptured appendix, but thanks for your boyfriend's story--that's pretty much how I thought of it, like with regular old appendicitis you'd be out of commission for a week or so.
I don't think Dawn needed to be there the whole time, either. Plus, if she got what Logan described as "the darkest tan I've seen in months," it's clear she wasn't in the hospital the entire time. She should have been back home after a week or so, really.
This snark of the book has a large version of the cover on it so you can see just how red everyone's hair is. If the Hobarts do have red hair, well, I forgot, but I could see Mal and Ben bonding over that. I guess I'm just confused because red hair is such an anomaly to Ann (apparently) that it's usually mentioned every other paragraph when characters with that trait are discussed. Lerangis slipped when he wrote this book.
My appendix did rupture, according to the surgeon's bill, but I guess they caught it right away. I was in the hospital for three days, on bedrest for a couple more, and then right back to grad school with the injunction that I could not climb stairs or lift heavy objects for six weeks. I was too sore at the incision site to wear my jeans for about three weeks, and just went everywhere in yoga pants and hippie skirts. But I could easily see how it could get more complicated. Also, in the olden days when AMM was growing up, people did stay in the hospital for much longer times.
Oooh, Slim Goodboody. I always wondered if he was a national thing or just a local monstrosity. I mean, most people wouldn't let their kids watch a naked man on television, but if the man is 10 times worse than naked, with his internal organs visible for all to see, it's suddenly educational? Chilling. Just chilling.
You're in the States, right? Now, okay, I think it's a bit much to have been in the hospital/off his feet for three weeks or what have you, but out of the hospital in three days? That seems too soon to me. Hooray for American health care. Thanks for sharing your story; the only appendix tale I knew of was my dad's from 50 years ago. And I don't think his burst.
Slim Goodbody, local monstrosity--I like that. :P I just...have issues with grown men dressing only in skintight bodysuits. And we watched him in school! More power to him, I suppose, and I think maybe I learned something, but I was too busy rocking back and forth in a corner to keep that memory past my junior high years.
Yep, I'm in the states. Generally here, 2-3 days is normal for a surgery with no complications where you can walk afterward. But they do send you home with a bunch of high powered painkillers and you spend at least a few days resting and tripping on painkillers there. (I understand that in Europe they make do on a much lower painkiller dose but have longer hospital stays.) The nastier the surgery, of course, the longer the stay. My appendix was pretty straightforward. Same with my Cesarian and my gall bladder. But for the cecal vovulus that no one caught for four days, well, that was a 4 1/2 day stay with a week's recovery afterward. (yes, I have been through surgery often enough to know the drill... let's just say it's best to catch Celiac's or NCGS before things reach that point!)
See, I disagree. Most of Europe has Universal health care so the taxpayer is footing the bill. They kick you our ASAP. I had my appendix out around midnight and was released just before 1pm that day. They won't release you if you're still on morphine, but the nurses dealing with me just stopped offering it - and put me straight onto codeine so I could be released. Maybe Scandinavia where everything seems a bit cushier, but the NHS will run you out the moment you seem somewhat okay.
The combination of your icon and this snark is reminding me of Annie screaming "My appendix is bursting!" And now I'm sad that I can't find that clip on youtube.
was their hair color ever mentioned, because I thought only the Rodowskys and Mallory were scorned for their ginger tresses I think I remember some books saying Ben Hobart is a boy Mallory, including being ginger (because only someone who's just like Mallory would go out with her? Nice, writers.) I always pictured the other Hobart boys being redheads as well, but I don't remember if canon explicitly mentioned it.
He gets to the Mary Anne part and says, "She's the other main interest in my life," then immediately apologizes since it sounds bad This is way better with cats. Then again, everything is better with cats IMO.
worried about who all he's letting down by becoming a full-on BSC member--his coach, his teammates, potentially the track team since he won't get any practice time in if he's got sitting jobs.And of course this matters not one whit to K. Ron. I'm picturing her as the manager of some place and handling a full-time worker's several-week absence by calling up one of their high school or university student part-timers and
( ... )
I missed the whole Cokie babysitting deal, but yeah--passive activity versus active activity? Hmm, wonder which will go over better with little kids?
Logan stretching in the kitchen reminded me of junior high gym class, where the guy I liked would do these stretches that his favorite hockey player did: He'd basically kneel on the ground, with his legs going out to the sides a little so his butt would touch the ground, then lay back. It...uh, did not look terribly appropriate. This is what I'm imagining Logan doing, and it's no wonder the kids were like, what the hell, dude.
Oh, you always come up with good ideas I wished I'd included in my snark--King's IQ must rival Claudia's. Your line made me laugh.
Comments 24
* = I'm in the UK so the hospital stay might be different elsewhere but I remember a family friend having a ruptured appendix when we lived in BC, Canada and I'm pretty sure she was in for a good 4 weeks then.
Reply
Yikes, sorry you're having to deal with this right now! Hope you're doing better, and thanks for the insight.
Reply
I'm fine, mine was caught before it burst. Even still, as I commented below, I was kicked out of the hospital less than 12 hours after I came to from the surgery. Universal health care is awesome, but when the taxpayer is footing the bill, they want the bed back ASAP.
Reply
i'm pretty sure the hobarts have always been redheads. wasn't there something in one of the books about mallory feeling bonded with ben because they both have red hair & glasses? (although mallory has occasionally been described as a brunette, so who the hell knows?)
Reply
I don't think Dawn needed to be there the whole time, either. Plus, if she got what Logan described as "the darkest tan I've seen in months," it's clear she wasn't in the hospital the entire time. She should have been back home after a week or so, really.
This snark of the book has a large version of the cover on it so you can see just how red everyone's hair is. If the Hobarts do have red hair, well, I forgot, but I could see Mal and Ben bonding over that. I guess I'm just confused because red hair is such an anomaly to Ann (apparently) that it's usually mentioned every other paragraph when characters with that trait are discussed. Lerangis slipped when he wrote this book.
Reply
Oooh, Slim Goodboody. I always wondered if he was a national thing or just a local monstrosity. I mean, most people wouldn't let their kids watch a naked man on television, but if the man is 10 times worse than naked, with his internal organs visible for all to see, it's suddenly educational? Chilling. Just chilling.
Reply
Slim Goodbody, local monstrosity--I like that. :P I just...have issues with grown men dressing only in skintight bodysuits. And we watched him in school! More power to him, I suppose, and I think maybe I learned something, but I was too busy rocking back and forth in a corner to keep that memory past my junior high years.
For those of you unaware of him, he has a website: http://www.slimgoodbody.com/
Reply
Reply
Reply
Maybe the lack of Dawn was the real Reader's Request.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
I think I remember some books saying Ben Hobart is a boy Mallory, including being ginger (because only someone who's just like Mallory would go out with her? Nice, writers.) I always pictured the other Hobart boys being redheads as well, but I don't remember if canon explicitly mentioned it.
He gets to the Mary Anne part and says, "She's the other main interest in my life," then immediately apologizes since it sounds bad
This is way better with cats. Then again, everything is better with cats IMO.
worried about who all he's letting down by becoming a full-on BSC member--his coach, his teammates, potentially the track team since he won't get any practice time in if he's got sitting jobs.And of course this matters not one whit to K. Ron. I'm picturing her as the manager of some place and handling a full-time worker's several-week absence by calling up one of their high school or university student part-timers and ( ... )
Reply
Logan stretching in the kitchen reminded me of junior high gym class, where the guy I liked would do these stretches that his favorite hockey player did: He'd basically kneel on the ground, with his legs going out to the sides a little so his butt would touch the ground, then lay back. It...uh, did not look terribly appropriate. This is what I'm imagining Logan doing, and it's no wonder the kids were like, what the hell, dude.
Oh, you always come up with good ideas I wished I'd included in my snark--King's IQ must rival Claudia's. Your line made me laugh.
Reply
Leave a comment