A friend of mine who is in her 50's, and has a stable, training dressage horses, left a couple of days after getting out of the hospital (appendectomy)to go to a show in Tennessee. I don't think she showed but took her students. In about two weeks, she was back to riding. I think they can do it in less invasive manner now, than when my father had his back in the 1950's.

Good luck....don't cancel your plans yet.

Usually it's done laproscopically.
Very minimal invasion -- quicker recovery time. Your situation is different, they may do it differently.

DS had his removed on a Saturday night and went home on Monday morning. His was about to burst. It's almost outpatient anymore.
He went to work -- very light duty -- on Tuesday.

I had an appendectomy at the same time as my hysterectomy last March. I was driving in a week and back at work in 2 and a half weeks. Worst part of the whole surgery was the itchy reaction I had to the surgery glue... that and the day I forgot I had surgery and tried to lower the recliner foot rest with my feet- I do NOT recommend trying that.

In July, my DH had an emergency appendectomy; it was done laproscopically. B/c of his age--81, then--he was kept over night, but, basically, it is now considered same day or "in and out surgery". As Janie_ga, posted, the worst thing for DH was the itchiness due to the surgical glue. He was told to take it easy for a few days, but since that's about all he does anyway, it wasn't hard to do. In his follow-up visit to the doctor, he was advised to have a colonscopy, which he did in September. He had had one ten years ago, so it was time for another. He said the colonscopy prep was worse than the appendectomy!

Chisue, I hope all will go well for you.

good responses for you. I hope it all goes well! Did you ask if you could be on the cancellation list? It would be nice to get in quicker!

Thanks, all! I guess that when it rains, it pours. (See my post about our auto accident!)

May everyone *else* NOT live in such 'interesting times'!

Can't add any more than what Kat said, best of luck to you Chisue and may your vacation unfold as expected! :)

Figure two days in hospital (maybe in and out, one day, no overnight) then bedrest 5 days,then start slowly. Don't do any heavy lifting. Or yardwork, not even vacuuming or sweeping, that require a lot of stretching.

Two days in the hospital? Our Appendectomies are usually outpatient procedures. Our surgeon does them in 10 minutes on average, not laprascopically. The incision is less than two inches. We have found the recovery doing it "open" is even less than lap. You should be good to go in less than a week, depending on your age, general health, and how well you tolerate a little discomfort. Good luck!

Sounds like I'm OK on the appendectomy part. Don't know about the 'carpet polyp' -- if it can't be removed except by surgery.

sleeperblues -- Thanks for the info about small incision v. laparascopic. However, I bet North Shore system MD's here do the laparascopic. Hmmm...

Thanks again!

Chisue, I had an appendectomy when I was about 75. Had acute appendicitis. They planned to do the laproscopic but my appendix had attached itself to my colon so they did it the "old fasnioned way". 2 days out of the hospital I went to visit my daughter, who was living in Bham at the time about a 5 or 6 hour drive (I wasn't driving) and we were out and about a good bit. I didn't do any thing stupid like lifting stuff, but I got along fine.

Funny thing happened after I got home. There was a message on my phone that said to call Social Security about the death of ---, gave my name. The hospital had stamped my record "DOD" for date of discharge. SS read it as "date of death". I had to take 2 forms of picture ID and present them in person to prove I was alive!

Good luck, you'll probably do just fine. I'll say a little prayer just in case.

jude

jude -- I kinda suspect mine may be 'attached' too. MD says there could be a tumor as well. The CT is not very clear. I'd have to have a special 'colonoscope w/ultrasound' to *possibly* learn more. I'm thinking, why not just *operate* and remove whatever is there. I'm so glad to hear about your procedure -- and that Sleeperblues recommends an open incision too. I'll ask for that instead of laparascopic.

Unfortunately, all this brings back memories of our DS's botched appendectomy when he was about 20. He has a scar about 12 inches long from the incompetent surgeon on call at the ER that night. DS was in surgery for four hours with this jerk. Worse still, the same guy happily removed stitches in his office while DS complained of pain. (DS has very high pain threshold.) Within hours we were back at the ER. The MD on duty gasped, then immediately opened the incision. The stench of infection was awful. DS was in hospital for three weeks on IV antibiotics. A scary time. I got nowhere complaining about the surgeon; he continued on-call at that ER until he retired. (Even the ER nurses rolled their eyes at mention of his name.)