Appendectomy

Welcome to the A and Z challenge! I have not participated in this since (I think) 2017 (or 2018?).  Anyway, it has been a few years.  I decided on the spur of the moment to do it this year.  Didn't really have a theme so I'm sure I'll be winging it for most of the month.

My brother had an appendectomy a week ago Saturday.  It was no biggie.  It wasn't a major surgery, minor, considered outpatient.  It was just amazing how quick it came to be.  I got a text from him when we were at the tax preparer having our taxes done (not a pretty picture, but a story for a different day, perhaps).  He said he had a bad stomachache for a day or so and the nurse at the hospital thought it might be appendicitis so recommended for him to come in to get checked out.  That was about 2 p.m.  My brother and family live in another state but we share the same time zone.  By 10 p.m. that night he would have had the surgery and was home recuperating.  Modern medicine! He had gone to the hospital after he had text me, got checked out, got diagnosed with an acute appendicitis versus a perforated one, and scheduled for surgery.  Surgery was originally scheduled for 10 p.m. but apparently he was taken in early because my niece, his daughter, had notified everyone via Facebook around 8:30 p.m. that he was out of surgery in recovery, it had gone well and he would be released for home soon.  I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. and woke to a text the next morning from my brother at 9:56 p.m. that he was home and thanking us for prayers.  He is recovering.  Just amazing.  In and out of the hospital after surgery in less than 12 hours.

That same brother of mine when he was about 7 years old in the year 1963 had a plate dropped on his foot accidentally by my aunt when she was watching my sister and him while my mom and me were in California checking it out.  At the time we had been living in Pennsylvania.  He was barefoot and the plate sliced through his second toe (the one by the big toe), almost severing it.  Of course he was taken to the hospital for care, had "experimental" surgery by a surgeon there who reattached the severed part of the toe back on.  My brother would remain in the hospital for a month while it healed to make sure no infection or the like set in.  These days he probably would have been discharged within days if not within hours of the procedure.

My mom was not told of the incident for several weeks as we were spending about 6 weeks in California to check things out, as I mentioned, since my mom was planning to relocate there.  When she called long distance to check on my brother and sister, she kept phone calls short because of the cost of long distance at the time, and my aunt didn't want to worry her about my brother so my aunt said nothing about his injury.  He made a full recovery, of course, and had no further issues.

Healthcare sure has changed over the years, hasn't it?

So the big question is as I close this blog, do you still have your appendix? I do!