�... thanks, David. good to know you're alive and well and still dishing out good advice. get well soon - we'll be waiting ...

 

________________________________
 From: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM 
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2012 6:08 AM
Subject: Belly pain caution NVC
  
I'm afraid I'll forget to mention this by next Friday, so I've gotten
special moderator permission ;-) for this blatantly (I hope) off-topic post.

I was taught about appendicitis as a Navy Hospital Corpsman back in
the mumblemumbles and I was actively aware of it as a possibility
within hours of my symptoms starting.� I was talking to a triage
nurse within a couple hours of it becoming clear that there was a
worsening trend, and in the ER an hour later, feeling quite
uncomfortable but not very ill and with only a degree of fever.� And
the first thing they did there was take a history and (gently) yell
at me for not coming in sooner.� They gave me a very simple rule:
BELLY PAIN WITHOUT NAUSEA --> GET SEEN.� Nothing to do with
appendicitis as such - I'm too old for that to be a common
problem.� They were a bit surprised when that's what it turned out to be.

But for the emergency medicine people that combination of pain/no
nausea is a big wake-up call, and I thought it wouldn't hurt to pass
along their little rule.� They were real clear about it; and I will
be too, next time.� I'd have been in the ER at least twelve hours
sooner, and I'd now have three little holes in my belly and been out
on the sidewalk next day; instead of three little ones and one pretty
big one, a slight opiate dependency, and starting to feel human again
a week later.

Yours,
David