For six months my energetic, vivacious daughter has been bent over in pain and fearful of riding in a car to go over bumps. After every possible exam, sonograms, scan, endoscopic, colonoscopy, and every other exam that could be done, the doctors were stumped.
We went to our local Children's Hospital who were prepared to do surgery on what they thought was appendicitis. After a second opinion they reneged their opinion and decided to send us to a bigger city. After a trip to Boston, the chief of staff of pediatric gastroenterology in 45 minutes diagnosed my daughter with "chronic appendicitis."
What was different about chronic appendicitis was that it does not host the usual symptoms of acute appendicitis which occurs when the appendix is about to burst. Instead, the appendix doesn't work properly and causes pain. As a result, for six months my daughter suffered severe abdominal pain in her lower left section from her pelvic bone to her ribs.
Unexplained to all doctors finally the pediatric gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital declared "get the appendix out." When bringing my daughter back to the local hospitals they were hesitant to do it nonetheless. After persistence by my wife and I they agreed to remove it reluctantly.
Amazing and as predicted by the gastroenterologist all pain was gone upon the completion of surgery. We later found out that the appendix was actually acute not chronic. Wow! Wow! Can you imagine this? All these doctors, all these exams, and no one caught it. So, if any of your loved ones have this pain in their lower abdomen region that's unexplained and can't be traced, consider chronic appendicitis. My hope is that a loved one of yours never has to spend the six months in paid as our daughter did.
In retrospect however, I forgot how vivacious my daughter was. Her full personality is back. She sings and dances and is back into the full swing of things. It's great to have her back.
David J. Zumpano
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