What was your first surgery? Thoughts at the time? Recovery?

I just had my first last Monday. Emergency Appendectomy. Was moving stuff about for a family member Sunday morning and felt a "tugg" and figured nothing of it. Groin pull maybe. Got home and an hour later was vomiting violently. Layed on the couch a bit trying to think what it could be, not thinking more than groin pull, some other muscle, or hernia. Called family and they all said go to ER, most likely appendix. Well, I always hated the idea of surgery. said stupid schit like "they aint guttin me like a deer!" But I promised them id go to the ER.

Monday came and I still hadnt gone to the ER. The pain had subsided some. I broke both bones in my right arm before, and 2 in my right hand, at the same time...but this felt worse. MUCH worse even after the pain eased some. My dad called me and asked how I was doing. Told him the pain went down but its still there. He ripped my ass out and said GTF to the ER NOW! SO, I got my schit on and went. Got to ER and they had me do a CT scan. Doc came back and said you need it out pronto! Said they had 3 appendectomies ahead of me but they were fast tracking me to the front of the line. Nothing had burst, but he was afraid it would as they were bagging it. The surgeon came down, acting like it was no big deal. Anesthesiologist came over and he was making jokes, which I didnt think was funny. Stated the risks, and thats when I started getting not only anxious, but ...scared. I went from well if it has to be done lets get r done to wtf if I dont wake up?? Wtf if it does burst and I gotta be in here a week or so??

The nurse came over just as the surgeon came back. Nurse whispered calm down hun, itll be fine. Surgeon said lets all pray. And they did. Off we went. When we got to the OR the nurse said she needed to give me a shot of heparin. The anesthesiologist said he should be out by now looked at my drip and said "oopps" bent over me and unscrewed something in my drip line and I dont remember schit!

Was out an hour or so. Around 9pm. Everything went fine, but I was still groggy. I wanted to go home. The nurse said someone had to come get me. So I tried, for hours, to get hold of family. The sob's turned their phones off and went to sleep, thinking theyd just pick me up in the morning! lol. So I told the nurse my sister lives right across the street and id walk there. She came back 5 minutes later and said if I promise not to drive and walked across the street she would release me. Hell yeah! So she helped get me dressed and at 330 am I walked out the front door, looked around and said F it! Got in my truck and drove myself home. I couldnt stand being in the hospital overnight!! I hate it! Dyin people everywhere!

First couple days was rough. It was laparoscopic, but still hurt like a bitch. I cant take percocet. They offered vicodin but I had to wait until morning and I wasnt about to stay the night! So ibuprofen it was. Every 6 hours I took 600mg. Meh, it helped somewhat. Yesterday was first shower and the bandaids fell off. Just got these butterfly things stuck to the holes yet. Still hurts when I cough, have to hold my cut at the belly button real tight when I do. The other 2 holes are nothing at this point. Got to sleep in my bed this morning instead of the couch. Heard of people going back to work in a few days, but since I lift a lot of heavy schit, doc said hes keeping me off 3 weeks.

Not sayin id do it again, matter of fact I wouldnt want to, unless an emergency. But it honestly wasnt as bad as I thought. Thank the Lord though, because if id have waited longer I would have made a huge mistake. Life is slow, but good! Feeling pretty decent right now.

I've been lucky, a heart stent in 1999. Minor as things go.

Stay healthy!

I hear stents can be iffy. Glad your still around!! Me get healthy? I wish, at almost 50 the cigarettes still got hold of me. But I keep trying. Gotta get up and moving soon, theyre tellin me to keep moving with these butterfly things on. Guess to keep the blood flow to muscles but I dont know. Headin for a short walk here soon. Thanks

My first surgery was when I was 56, had lumbar fusion 3,4,5.

Tonsils when I was about eight. Pretty scary. Then wisdom teeth at around age 17. Not so scared, but painful afterwards for about a week.

Gall bladder removal and hernia repair....your gonna be sore for a while!dont over do it but try to keep moving around.

Get round ok? That would worry me, not being able to do what I do now.

Wasnt supposed to drive, but I did every day so far. I think thats the worst, trying to sit and hit all the bumps on these schitty roads. Thanks, ill keep it moving

First and last, circumcision.
50 years old never broke any bones other than fingers, ribs.
No surgerys so far.
Wife has ha 6.

Wisdom teeth at 19. Knee redone at 30. LASIK on the eyes at 30. Rebuilt shoulder and bicep at 35. Vasectomy at 35. Heading in shortly to get some teeth implants after a tumble down the steps....I was sober unfortunately

Anesthesia and me don’t agree. I also don’t take opiates so it’s ibuprofen and Tylenol. Surgeries suck but I’m sure there’s more ahead for me since I’m only 46.

Follow the Drs orders and take it easy

Jeezly Crow,

I wish that was all I've had.

I think I'm at 10 total or so, including eyes and a "minor" wrist surgery.

Couple of shoulder surgeries were in the multi-hour category.

Removal of 1/3 of a kidney a couple of hours, I think.

Knee replacement.

I'm probably forgetting one or two. Not counting the wisdom teeth either, as they didn't put me completely out.

Glad you followed advice...............eventually that it. Burst appendix is nothing to mess around with from all I've heard.

Good luck on the recovery.

Folks used to die left and right from a ruptured appendix. It's a dangerous structure to have, even if it does serve a purpose after you've lost your natural gut flora from a bad case of diarrhea.

Born with a bicuspid aortic heart valve, failed late 60's. 7hours of open heart, to install a cow pericardial tissue valve, made / sewn in Singapore. Backpacked out an 8 point 4 weeks after discharge, on my 69th... Excellent prognosis! My Mom, and grandmother died at 50 from heart problems.... Guess how lucky I feel .....advances in technology...

Exploratory craniotomy in 1958. I was 8 years old and I still remember the surgeon's name: Moses Ashkenazy.

Cyst removed from back of knee I think I was 6..........., except for that, and a few teeth, I've got everything I was born with...............

Almost forgot the vasectomy at 46..............

My mom was operated on by a doctor named Ashkenazy, too. Not the same guy, though, since this was like four or five years ago, and he was a young to middle aged man.

Tonsillectomy, age 5
Removal of benign tumor from right lung, age 25
Vasectomy, age 43
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, age 51
Hernia repair, age 54
Shoulder repair, age 55
Left knee replacement, age 70
Right knee replacement, age 70
A-fib ablation, age 70
Right eye cataract removal age 71
Left eye cataract removal, age 71
Right shoulder replacement, age 71
A-fib second ablation, age 71

None of them were recreational experiences, but I wouldn't be scared to do any of them again if needed. Hoping for a few good years before the curtain falls.

Best wishes for many more to come. Years. Not operations.

I’m ok, but life is not the same.
I’m on a 25 pound weight limit, so it’s tuff, especially when I worked construction my whole life.

At least I don’t have to drag them big bucks out of the deer woods anymore, my sons have that detail.

Like you Pahick, my first was an appendectomy, 65 years ago. Appendix ruptured the day before surgery so I got to stay a week and get my butt filled with pennicillin twice a day.

Appendectomy 1966. MinIng town company hospital. The mine blasted everyday at afternoon shift change and shook the whole town. My older brothers told me that if the blasted during my surgery the Dr would slip and cut my pecker off. I was scared. I was in 3rd grade.

My dad and aunt both came close to dying by ignoring appendix pain. Not a good idea.

As for me...i would have to count but I would bet probably 2 dozen surgeries from tooth pulling to bone graft to appendicitis to having tubes in my ears and on and on. Born weighing 3 pounds. Cleft palate and lip repairs and assorted orthodontic and dental surgeries and wisdom teeth and on and on. Broke a couple bones etc.

They have made a lot of money on me.

Almost 45 and still waiting on that first one.

Hope it never comes.

Unless a vasectomy or wisdom removal counts but those are pretty much a stroll in the park.

Ill be 50 shortly...look back at the replies, unfortunately that is our future.

open calcaneal fracture when I was 23

Hernia when I was five in 1962. Back then I had to spend a couple of nights in the hospital...

Appendectomy 1977. I remember sporting wood when the nurse shaved me.

I'm eternally grateful for them too. Especially the partial nephrectomy. Kidney cancer is better when it's removed than when it's left to grow.

The two shoulder surgeries were necessary to continue life in a relatively normal manner, the TKR let me go elk hunting without much pain last year and I still walk with the dogs +/- 10 miles or so a week along with the yard work and gardening, and my knee is no longer giving me constant bone on bone pain.

I prefer modern medicine and surgery than living like humans did in the Good Old Days.

Dayum! That looks nasty......

What was his name?

Roger, that like one of Cindererella's sisters feet!

Straight to the f a g talk, as usual.

They took my foreskin at the age of five.


Not been under the knife since.

Damn Roger!! Even with meds that had to hurt like a bitch!

Besides circumcision, wisdom teeth, and the regular stuff, I’ve had arthroscopic surgeries to clean out debris from my left knee at 19, right shoulder at 20 and 28, and right hip at 28. Had a severed achilles reattached at 36. Took a year to recover from that.

My first was s1-l5 fusion it was in 1986.

I stayed up almost all night worrying about what it would be like after.

When i woke up i was paralyzed from the waist down.

Stayed that way for about 2 months.

Then i went home to get better.

Hernia at 5 yrs old

The first that I remember was a broken femur when I came off a horse and hit the ground wrong. Just below the hip so I got a bolt screwed into the hip ball that is welded to a plate that has seven screws holding all the shattered bone together.

Should have framed that x-ray.

No good advice can be given to the OP. He's too hard headed to listen and he doesn't care if he endangers other people.

Jim

Knocked out twice for molars. Once for broken bones (I was 7, ulna and radius, right arm). Only real surgery was last January on my shoulder. I should be going back to work in the next couple of months.

8 penny nail i to the eyeball, i pulled it out climbed down the ladder told the crew it was quitting time.

3 days in Vanderbilt university med center, to get the cornea sewed shut and to guard infection and assess next steps

Discharged, with a patch and bandage, had to let it heal and calm down in there for six weeks.

A cataract formed as a circumstance; like the docs predicted.

After the six weeks, cataract surgery was performed, got artificial lens, and several follow up laser treatment.
It aint ever been right since, duh!! Can only see about 20/60 and my pupil looks like a copperhead’s pupil.

I shoot with that eye, try to put the best optics I can on for that reason, not just to be a pretentious braggart.

I shoot just fine, first met Renegade50 he was surprised how decent I could shoot. I have to offset the axis of my vision a few degrees to see around the scar tissue before touching off thr shot. Ot all comes automatically now,

Dove hunting is a challenge, might not always limit out and might have to burn 3 boxes of shells to accomplish it. I cannot see my shotgun bead, I just use the Jedi Force somehow I can work it out with my left and calculate the adjustment on the swing of the barrel

Pistol, no problems there, I just shoot right/hand, left eye dominate.

Watched the first Gulf War in 19991 from a hospital bed.

21 years old, self employed, no major medical insurance, staring at a $46,000 pile of bills.

Non surgical

Broke my arm(s) three times before I was 13. The old school plaster casts.

Broke it once right before school let for summer.

Could not buy a summer pool pass. Oh well, had to go fishing everyday. 👍

When I was 19 I broke my right pinkie knuckle on a '39 ford coupe firewall. Knuckle dropped off at a 90 degree angle and it had to be pinned.

No Simmons Whitetail Deluxe glass for your rifles I'm guessing?

As you know, I get a shot in the eye every 4-6 weeks............but not with an 8D needle.

That sure must have hurt a mite.

First surgery was at the ripe old age of three days (cleft palate repair). Had a second round at the age of five, after the plastic surgeon returned from the war (WW II). Have had about five surgeries for things ranging from hernia repair to knee replacement in the ensuing 65 years.

George Vanderbilt, right after he finished Biltmore
1909 isn I think

I billionaire in today’s money, he couldnt be saved

Tonsils at 6. Cheekbone repair at 25. First shoulder surgery at 27, second at 42. Shoulder replacements at 58 and 59. Hopefully, I'm done for awhile.

Minor stuff,screws and pins for broken bones before I was 18
26ish had several cysts removed from my head
30ish wisdom teeth
40 vasectomy
48 had a full knee replacement in January and the second in July
Need to have some work done on my right ankle from hs sports injury. Putting it of till I cant take it any longer

5?

WTF?

I'm more worried about the next one.

My first surgery as an adult was in a quaint little mountain town. I had a case of roids the size of VW's! The local doctor that year in town was a decent enough fellow, for a gay doctor. His name was MIke Hundt and I can't believe I am putting this out on an open forum! WTF!

2006, age 49. First surgery was for a torn right rotator cuff. Tore it on a fire call. It was a complete tear and the muscle had retracted. My doctor had genuine sincerity in his eyes when he told me he did everything he could, even climbing up onto the operating table to try to re-attatch it. Couldn't be fixed. It doesn't hinder me all that much, just no strength lifting anything above my head.

Next surgery will be a left knee replacement on 08/20.

first one at 1 years old and quite a few since. abdominal was the worst. actually, its a toss up between abdominal and shoulder/rotator cuff. both were brutal for a few days after.

34 yrs later.

Late bloomer?

I believe Mike Wiener once said he had an adadicktomy...

that picture of my foot is on the net, when I was being treated they asked my permission to take pics for training purposes and had students come in and look at my foot.

Still looks like it might hurt off and on.....

actually just remembered I had my tonsils out when I was 7, actually me and my two younger brothers at the same time sharing a hospital room.

it does have arthritis.

I had a tonsillectomy about 67 year’s ago? I don’t know much about it, I was only 3 at the time.

Nothing yet thankfully.

Vasectomy isn't a surgery. It's like a deep skin biopsy.



I'm 3 orthopedic and one abdominal surgery in, I imagine there will be more.

Let’s see.

First surgery at age 3 when I lost a disagreement with a wringer washer. 63 stitches around my left elbow.

Age 5 had eye surgery to correct Strabismus.

Wisdom teeth out under full anesthetic at 20

Broken ankle at 25 (still have the titanium screws in it 35 years later).

Vasectomy at 28 - local anesthetic..

Deviated septum at 30.

Had a ganglion removed from my trigger finger at 35. Another local.

Splenectomy for a blood disorder at 36. Started out laparascopic but got a 10 inch zipper when one of the clamps failed and I almost bled out.

Another deviated septum surgery at 50.

Another Strabismus surgery at 55.

I figure I’m good for a few more before I kick off.

Oh, yeah. Forgot to add circumcision. Couldn’t walk for a year.

3rd degree burns at age 5 - several skin grafts then and a few more in the following years
car wreck at age 25 - plastic surgery to smooth the scars and skin graft so i can close my eye
sinus surgery at age 46
got snipped and became a steer at age 48

G23

Orchiopexy to repair Tortion,
Double hernia,and a Lithotripsy to blast out some kidney stones.

Tortion is not fun........edit to add,I had it 2x,and after the second time is when they fixed it.

They took 2 toes off of my left foot. Bad sugar runs in the family, always has. Same foot, bad gout.

Helluva appendix story, pahick!! My only surgery, aside from my wisdom teeth extraction at 18, was a colonoscopy a few years ago. I guess I'm doing good at 59 if that's all I've had.

Greenstick fractured forearm at 10. They had to break It to fix it.
Tonsils at 14.
Wisdom teeth at 18. Only had two?

Doctor that took tonsils sliced a chunk out of my adenoids, had to have the rest
removed a few years ago.

Endoscope my gut about 3 years ago.

Not much really.
Now as to stitches, casts, slings...things cut off, burnt off, frozen off, that didn't require
taking a nap? That's a long list.

I dont know.

Never asked.

You complain a lot. I wish an a laposcopic appendix removal was the worst surgery I ever had. I wish my recovery was only 3 weeks, with no last I g effects. Trade you?

1986, left knee, orthoscopic, quick recovery, two weeks max, fu-king myself up right off the bat with this crazy new job!

Well.....??

Did you lose your typing fingers in a horrible smelting accident?

Give us the Cliff’s notes synopsis.

Youre Canadian. All your doctor come here. Make big money. You should be complaining while you wait 6 months for Singh Singh to get promoted from Veterinarian to MD.

First was hemorrhoid surgery. First bowel movement was a true eye opener.
Second surgery was nasal surgery. First sneeze produced lots of blood.

You might say that the surgeons worked it out at both ends.

I was 12 years old. I woke up one Monday morning with a brief, sharp pain across my abdomen, about navel level...just a quick flash. A moment later, a dull, ache lower left abdomen. My mother came in to make sure I was awake (school day) and I told her, "I think I need my appendix out." Oddly enough, she didn't question anything, went and got my father. He came up, I described what was going on. They got my brothers off to school, then took me to the hospital. I remember seeing the clock reading 10:30 as the sodium pentathol made the room start spinning around. I woke up about 4:00 pm. Went home Thursday, off in the woods Friday, back to school Monday.

I felt like I'd gone through a rite of passage. A lot of my friends had had appendectomies or their tonsils out. One of my buddies had his appendix out, he was out of school six weeks.