How Meppi Almost Became A Permanent Resident Of Nightopia

[meppi]

For everyone who's been wondering what has happened to me over the last 3 weeks or has sent me PMs which didn't get a reply, I want to apologize.

I certainly am not tired of the project, or am mad at anyone or something like that.

The thing is, exactly 3 weeks ago on saturday just around noon, I started feeling not so good.

Had to run to the bathroom over and over again over the course of 4 hours. Lots of pain and cramps.

The problem was, once my belly was completely empty, the pain didn't subside, instead it only continued to get worse and worse.

So by 5PM I get a phone call from my mom asking how my day has been, to which I reply that I think I'm sick.

Now I normally only see a doctor about once a year or so and when I do it's always for a good reason, so she knew something was up.

I couldn't get of my couch, where I had been laying for over an hour with incredible abdominal pain.

Decided to call the doctor, but since it was during the weekend, we had to settle for a replacement. (for people in the US, housecalls are pretty much standard over here)

2 and a half hours later the doctor still wasn't here even though he said he would be here very soon, so we called again as the pain only got worse and worse. He finally showed up 15 minutes later and came to the conclusion that it was nothing but a stomach and intestine infection, so I got something to reduce the fever and something for the pain.

By tuesday, it still wasn't much better, so we decided to call our new doctor, since the one I had from birth had just gone into retirement one week before.

When the doctor arrived, the symptoms were not the exact same anymore due to the medication I had been taken for 3 days already.

So he doubled the pain and fever meds and subscribed some antibiotics as well.

He was going on his yearly vacation on saturday, so when by friday I still was feeling sick as hell and couldn't get out of bed at all, (lots of fever and did nothing but sleep) we had to call him again.

Once he got here he knew something wasn't right, and decided to call an ambulance to have me rushed to the ER.

There they examined me and I got an IV and all kinds of tests. At this point I was to weak to walk more then 20 meters, so I had to be wheeled around in a wheelchair.

They took two separate scans which turned out inconclusive as they could only see there was something like and infection in my lower belly, nothing more.

The next few days, I got all kinds of stuff through the IV, painkillers, antibiotics, etc.

Finally on monday they had me go through another scan, this time it was a machine which actually looks like it was made in the last 10 years as opposed to the ones they had me go through before.

Had to drink a contrast fluid and they injected me with something which gives you the impression that they are pouring a bottle of warm red wine into your lap and it flows to your head and toes at the same time. Very peculiar sensation.

Instead of having the results in the afternoon or something, I had to wait till the day after.

That morning, we're tuesday now, a quite arrogant doctor comes in and tells me that I have an abscess in my lower belly in the intestines and that I had 3 options:

-go home and take antibiotics for the next few weeks

-stay in the hospital and get the antibiotics through the IV

-undergo surgery

I didn't get anymore info, and since those 3 options are so far apart, I felt like something was up, so I protested.

He got quite a bit irritated and said he's look at the scans again with the surgeon and come back in the afternoon.

That afternoon the surgeon himself came back and explained that my appendix had been eaten away for the most part and that an abscess had formed of the remaining tissue, so that I needed to get surgery.

That would also be the explanation for the incredible pain...

Well, they were supposed to take me that evening, but it ended up being noon the day after, even though they said they'd take me as early as possible.

They ended up working on me for about 3 hours as I was gone for 5 and we can estimate that I was in the recovery room for an hour and a half.

Don't know much about that day, besides waking up with lots of pain, like they were sticking red hot needles in the lower places where you shouldn't be sticking needles in the first place, if you know what I mean. Both the back and the front. :(

The second and third day wasn't much better as I didn't eat anything, wanted to do nothing but sleep and felt sick and had to request even more pain medicine all the time even though I had 4 different things going into the IV at this point.

Finally on saturday I was doing a bit better, but still wasn't eating anything, only drinking small amounts of water as my mouth was constantly dry.

I ended up with another bag on the IV, this time a 2 liter one a day of white fluid which had to replace all the food and water I wasn't taking in the normal way. Don't know when I actually got it, only that I went through 8 of them.

Also had a drain put into my belly from which all kinds of gross stuff flows, not going to go into details as it's too disgusting really.

We heard from several nurses and doctors, various explanations and pieces of info from which we were able to piece together that I actually had a bursted appendix and that this actually happened that very first saturday.

Finally the saturday after the operation (which happened wednesday), the doctor came clean and told us it was indeed a bursted appendix and that I was slowly poisoning myself.

I would remain in the hospital till friday (yesterday, so 2 full weeks) and then they took the drain out and I was finally able to come back home.

Still need a nurse to come over every day to change the bandages and give me an injection in my belly as well as to put in a piece of sterile textile of about 25cm into the wound (don't know the English term for this) so it can further clean itself.

I still can't do much since I get easily tired and need to sleep. After a couple of hours of watching tv or playing on the DS I'm done for the day to say the least. Even typing all of this is quite the effort right now so I have to stop soon and might not be back today.

In the end lots of errors were made by both the doctors and other staff.

It took them a week and a half to finally treat the bursted appendix, which at that point had flooded all kinds of nasty stuff into my abdomen and which had already started to poison me.

I've heard from various sources that if it had taken a day or perhaps 2 at most longer, I wouldn't even have been here right now, and that I was extremely lucky that I kept ticking for as long as I did without a proper diagnosis.

The fact alone that I laid in the hospital for 5 days before they realized what's wrong with me should say enough.

I could easily write a book about all the things that went wrong with my treatment as well as things I witnessed happening to other people.

I've been to a great hospital before in Ghent where I can't say anything bad about since everything was just about perfect, but this time I didn't have a choice so they sent me to the nearest one.

I have to say, they will never do that to me again.

The best comparison I can make between the first hospital I've been to and the local one would be if you compare something like the TV series ER and a run down Russian hospital. And sadly that's not an exaggeration. :(

I know I've missed out on so many parts of the story about the things that happened to me over these past few weeks, but I really need to stop writing now and lay down, since I've already overextended myself.

Just wanted to let you know that I'll be back, even if it might take a while.

[atik]

Wow, just reading about what you've been going through in the last three week's, really put's any problem's I think I may have into perspective.

It's scary to think that the kind of treatment you get is really down to the lottery of which Hospital you end up at.

Any way I just want to say that I, and I'm sure everyone else who visit's Retromags really appreciate all the hard work and dedication that you put into the website and I hope your recovery goes well. Keep fighting man.

[Phillyman]

Wow Meppi.....I knew something was up. I had a sinking feeling that you were hospitalized, as it was the only explaination for your absence. I checked MeanMachines and your PS3 account and saw that you were absent from those also......I am just glad that you were persistant and are somewhat ok now.

Welcome back

[bombatomba]

Wow, dude... wow.

Kind of puts things into perspective for the rest of us, though. I mean, people die from infection brought on by a burst appendix. In fact, the stage you were at...

Glad you're alright. Thought and prayers, and all that.

[kbf_private_joker]

Reading this makes me want to research about the appendix and make sure that if mine ever bursts I get the hospital quickly. I also should not have read this post while eating my 2nd bowl of cereal this morning.

[triverse]

Get some rest, take care of yourself first, we all will be here when you get back up to feeling able to do more.  Enjoy your time that you can and do stuff you want to do.  

Take care, man.  Really, we all missed you and are glad your OK.

[meppi]

Thanks everyone.

I could write a book about all the things that happened to me and that I've seen and heard when I was there, but I just want to put it behind me.

A few tidbits about the food for instance.

At one time I got yogurt that had expired somewhere in February.

The bread we got in the morning and evening had a production date of 3-4 days ago, without exception, except for the one time they gave me bread that was repackaged by hand and someone else already had put butter on top of it.

The bread was even harder then usual and the butter had already dried and turned yellow. No need to say that I didn't eat it and skipped quite a few meals.

I normally weigh 76kg and when measuring myself on WiiFit yesterday I ended up on 69kg.

Lots of other horror stories, from male nurses threatening to hit some poor 89 year old guy, with drawn fists and all in the middle of the night while he thought me and the guy next to me were still asleep.

Simply because the poor guy had terrible pain in his groin area since they quickly put a new diaper on him and only checked up him (or basically everyone) every 4-5 hours. So when the diaper started cutting into him due to him turning in his bed, or when he was wet from doing his business, he needed to wait hours until they came back.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

The guy laying besides me was the youngest person I've seen there (21 years old), and the only one which I had some fun times with and could talk to and laugh with, since the others were so old they either didn't hear anything or suffered from some kind of mental problems due to old age, so that it barely made a difference what you said to them.

Oh and I also had this one guy, around 45, who sat there for 3 days drinking beer, eating chips and going out for a smoke every 10 minutes.

Then laid there coughing and snoring all night long.

There were plenty of nights where I only slept for 2-4 hours, so needless to say that isn't a good environment to get well in.

A scary fact is that the young person next to me got released on monday and had to go to another hospital on friday because the wound on his lower back had become infected again and started smelling like roadkill.

When he arrived at the other hospital, they had to re-open the wound and cut of the scar tissue as it had already started to decompose.

And his was a relatively simple operation. The best part is that the same surgeon that did that to him also worked on me, so I'm scared to death thinking about what might still happen to me.

To end on a lighter note though, I had a good laugh when they took me off the IV and I got my first antibiotics in pill form.

I just had to take a picture with my DSi.

Retard pills all the way!

[Mister Zero]

The topic title made me smile!

That hospital sounds like a nightmare from a 3rd world! I'm glad you made it through, seems like you went through a lot.. maybe too much trouble for something as routine as an appendix. Be extra careful of infection.

Makes me want to keep my body in constant check.. it's too bad I'm here in America where I'd have to sell my right leg to pay a doctor bill. Having no insurance sucks.

Make sure you stay well retarded to fight off infection and come back to us in full force!!

[BarbieOnWeed]

Take your time to rest and come back stronger than ever.

[Hidinger]

Just wanted to let you know that I'll be back, even if it might take a while.

Good luck Meppi, if there is anything I can do let me know!