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Article says sick leave on antibiotics was 11 days compared to 22 with the invasive surgery. The non invasive surgery only has you taking it easy for 7 days with no lifting anything over 10 pounds for a bit after that. They send you home from the hospital after 2 days. Most people resume work during the initial week.
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>Doc slipped his finger up my bum Is this a standard way to diagnose appendicitis?
I was taught by a computer game that it's diagnosed by palpating the four quadrants of the abdomen and doing an ultrasound. A lot of the decoy cases were just gas; hold for observation until they fart it out. This wasn't in the game, but I presume it may also be necessary to do a pregnancy test (ectopic?), urinalysis for urinary tract infection, swabs for genital tract infection, blood draw for white blood cell count…
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> Or are the antibiotics for dealing with an actual ruptured appendix If your appendix ruptures, it is life threatening and has to come out. Most appendix removals happen before the appendix ruptures. The conclusion of the study is that high doses of antibiotics is an effective way to prevent the appendix from rupturing without surgery.
I still have the question: what about the 'stone'? Do antibiotics cure that somehow? Or is that the reason that 30% of those treated with antibiotics ultimately have the surgery?
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Wait is that a requirement?
From the Australian Government - Department of the Environment and Energy, Australian Antarctic Division: The answer is no, however doctors who are wintering at Australian Antarctic stations are required to have their appendix removed. This is because there is usually only one doctor on station during winter, and evacuation back to medical care in Australia is impossible for at least part of the year. The requirement…
The Americans, of course, would just attempt surgery on site using remote assistance from stateside surgeons, do the horrendously expensive evacuation when it goes wrong, try to bill the patient for the entire multi-million dollar amount, and then base a screenplay or teleplay on the story.
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Can you give more details of "technically died"? Any after-life experience?
That's not a phrase a physician would typically use. Laypeople sometimes use it to describe respiratory and/or cardiac arrest.
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(I'm assuming you're in the US or somewhere like it where an appendix removal isn't free)
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That's not a phrase a physician would typically use. Laypeople sometimes use it to describe respiratory and/or cardiac arrest.
Thanks. I have no medical training, so that helps. So the brain can still function for a while during cardiac arrest?
I found this conversation unnerving at 13 years old: Doctor: "Does all this make sense? We need to remove your appendix.. now." Me: "Doctor, ok, so you need to remove my appendix cause if you don't I could get really sick. " Doctor: "Yes." Me: "What does the appendix do?" Doctor: "We don't know."
About 10 years ago, one study set forth an interesting hypothesis: The appendix is a place where "good" bacteria can safely hide during infection. I'm not sure if there's been any work since then to confirm the hypothesis, but it sure is an interesting idea. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/health/research/17appe.ht...
This is the great thing about HN -- there's a very good change somebody will come along and update my intuition.
I found this conversation unnerving at 13 years old: Doctor: "Does all this make sense? We need to remove your appendix.. now." Me: "Doctor, ok, so you need to remove my appendix cause if you don't I could get really sick. " Doctor: "Yes." Me: "What does the appendix do?" Doctor: "We don't know."
About 10 years ago, one study set forth an interesting hypothesis: The appendix is a place where "good" bacteria can safely hide during infection. I'm not sure if there's been any work since then to confirm the hypothesis, but it sure is an interesting idea. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/health/research/17appe.ht...