Appendicitis

Agutka

If you have had your appendix out, can you tell me how long it took you to get back to health? My mum has now been operated on two weeks ago, no problems at the time, but she is still in pain/discomfort and feeling pooey. I thought she's be back on her feet by now... although she is not resting like the docs told her to.

misswig

I had my appendix out last year and was back at work within 8 days (had too as only been in my new job for 5 weeks and sick pay hadn't kicked in!!). However i felt generally unwell for a few weeks afterwards with unexplained temperatures (generally on an evening if i had done too much during the day). I still have the occasional pain aroud the scar site which the doctor said was due to not resting up properly and healing not being complete. My advise to your Mum is if she can rest and let other people do things for you for a couple of weeks

Agutka

Thank you.
The problem is she just can't rest. They were out of the country when it happened and had to stay on an extra fortnight and my dad was going out of his mind trying to keep her in bed. Or just sitting down.
And flying back tomorrow, she'll be keen to spend time with her very physically demanding 2yo grandson!

lindsaygalaxy

I had mine out when I was 11. Id say about 3 weeks but still had discomfort, especially when people made me laugh!

hoppypoppy_2

I had exploritory laproscopy + appendoctomy (both at once) last summer. Was lucky to get sick-pay and took 5wks off work, was more active than I should have been and went back to work once I felt safe driving because I was bored stupid. Regretted I didn't take longer or rest more. I was physically fit and active beforehand but still felt bloated and sore, couldn't move quickly and struggled to concentrate months later -apparantly a common after-effect of general anaesthetic.

This was at age of 33 and with only 3 tiny scars, the longest being about 1cm long- I'm assuming that your mother is slightly older. However different people have different bodies, I know a 50yr old who had it, and only tool 2wks off. His scar is about 10cm long. Unfortunately he didn't have anyone to look after him or stop him from going back to work

She must not try lifting or carrying 2yr old and really shouldn't let him sit on her lap or climb on her, and that's just sedentary visiting. She'll want to go out on excursions but will get extremely tired very quickly.

Since my op I've seen documentary film of how the cuts are stretched and clamped open and tubes forced in, it really is brutal and casues significant bruising, also remember that they cut through core muscle. I really don't want to scare you - she's got past the dangerous bit, but if she doesn't recouperate properly now it could take a very long time.