Appendicitis surgery and mishap

[qercv]

I went to see gp with symptoms of appendicitis and she referred to the surgical assessment unit. Everything was sorted in four hours and by five I had a bed and waiting for surgery that night.

the surgery was supposed to be key hole even if I had surgical mesh from my belly button hernia repair.

went to surgery and woke up to a little bit chaotic room. I was sent to intensive care. Apparently the surgeon had perforated my colon when going through the mesh. I am getting well very quick and transferred to the normal ward soon.

I could have been back home next day but now I have to stay in for five days because of the iv antibiotics. Little bit annoyed. The surgeon came to apologise the mistake.

Did this surgeon not have any idea about biology? Your appendix is nowhere near your belly button! My appendectomy scar is about 8 inches away!

OP, it is very annoying for you, but the surgeon didn’t mean to make a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and doctors are no different from the rest of us. I assume it will be looked into by the hospital - unfortunately, these things happen. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Apparently in keyhole surgery one of the cameras go through belly button

I understand it must be scary going in for a keyhole surgery and coming out the other end in an emergency. Mistakes do happen though - surgeons are humans too, there are always risks to any kind of surgery no matter how big or small. As long as they’re equipped to fix it if it goes wrong (which in your case so far that’s been successful), then that’s all you can ask for.

Yes of course. It has to.
I'm sorry this happened @qercv but glad you're recovering.

In keyhole surgery for appendicitis they generally make 3 holes. They need camera, light and surgical tools in there. It’s great when it works because you get three really small scars and not one large one. And recovery can be quicker too with smaller incisions.
Sorry you’ve a rough time OP. I hope you’re feeling better soon.

And you have no idea about laparoscopic surgery. The camera is routinely put in just below the belly button.

@qercv I'm sorry this happened, hope you are recovering well. Unfortunately this is a recognised complication of any keyhole surgery, and probably slightly more likely in you because of your previous surgery. When taking consent for an appendicectomy, even if they plan to operate laparoscopically, they should routinely consent for the small chance of conversion to open surgery, and for damage to other organs. Even the best surgeons will have bad things happen, even if nothing is done wrong. You can always ask for a debrief or more information at some point if you feel ready.

Sorry this has happened it must have been quite traumatic to wake up from a general anaesthetic to a chaotic atmosphere and finding yourself in ICU.

I’ve just had laparoscopic surgery (planned not emergency) and this is the sort of thing that is listed as a risk. That doesn’t make it any less frightening but I wouldn’t imagine it was down to the surgeons incompetence. Like a previous poster suggested a debrief would probably be a really good idea so you can fully understand what happened and how it was managed.

hope you make a swift recovery.

when did you have it done? ...wondering if your username might explain the difference between your open appendicectomy vs the OPs entirely standard approach to a laparoscopic appendicectomy (standard for at least the last 20yrs).

OP, I've anaesthetised for more appendices than I can remember and even with mesh near the belly button they still usually attempt a laparoscopic procedure (there are lots of advantages to doing it laparoscopically beyond it just being smaller scars). There is a risk of bowel injury with every time they access access the periotoneum and it's probably just really really bad luck. Sounds like they recognised it promptly, used an abundance of caution to make sure they were looking after you well and not missing anything serious and they've been open about what happened - that all sounds like good practice in the face of a disappointing complication. Am sure they'll be happy to do a more formal debrief once you're over the acute recovery and properly on the mend.

Just another surgeon who was called into operation tellinkien me my bowel had stuck to the Mesh and they had to cut that bit off. Then attach the ends.

also I have a plastic line stuck on my belly that should come out with light pulling. It doesn’t so off to surgery again.

First of all, the OPs first post didn’t actually say they HAD done a laparoscopy. Secondly, I do understand it as I’ve had it done twice - once to be sterilised and once for an investigation in my abdomen. I have also had my appendix out, but not through laparoscopy. In neither of these surgeries did they go ‘through’ my belly button as the scars either side of it will attest.
But thanks for the snide comment!

I did have it done as a child, but as it was an emergency I guess they took the quickest route. My appendix had ruptured and I ended up with sepsis following the surgery.

so they did what was standard when you were a child...which was a long time ago in medical terms and quite a bit of progress has been made since then. Laparoscopic appendicectomies have been the norm for a long time, for both the vague 'not really sure if it is or it isn't' ones and for the properly gammy ones (and there's particular advantage for women to have it done laparoscopically, because just every so often it's not an appendix and you can spot the surprise gynae pathology much more easily through a scope).

I think they might have actually pulled out my infected appendix through an incision just inside my bellybutton. I feel like the surgeon told me that afterwards but it was a while ago and it might just be my own assumption. The other two incisions were actually further away from where my appendix presumably was - a tiny one on my left side and a slightly longer one over my pubic bone. I was quite impressed that they managed to hide two of the scars in places that are not really visible even in a bikini.

Yup, they probably did! In a little bag!

Mesh is a nightmare to work around.

this is a risk of any abdominal surgery. It’s not a mistake.