A Doctor’s Instinct—This Time, It Was Personal
Twelve days ago, my 7-year-old son spiked a fever. Living in a malaria-endemic region, I started treatment for malaria, and thankfully, the fever subsided. But two days later, he began complaining of severe abdominal pain and developed diarrhea. I took him to the ER at my hospital, where he was started on medications. For a couple of days, he seemed better.
Then the symptoms returned—worse than before.
This time, I took him to see a paediatrician, who suspected gastritis and prescribed a different antibiotic. Both times we visited the hospital, my son looked completely fine on the outside—laughing, playing, and full of energy.
But that night, around 10 p.m., my instincts kicked in hard. Something just didn’t sit right with me. I rushed him back to the hospital—straight to the radiology department. I pulled rank and insisted on an abdominal CT scan.
There it was.
Tucked neatly behind the caecum: a swollen, edematous appendix. A rare retrocaecal appendix, which accounts for less than 1% of all appendicitis cases. By the next day, he was in the operating theatre, and the appendix was out.
We’re now five days post-op—no more pain, no more diarrhea. He's healing well.
To give some context: appendicitis is relatively rare in children, and even more so when the appendix is retrocaecal. The CT scan I demanded cost around $150—roughly the starting monthly salary for many graduates in my country. But at that moment, cost didn’t cross my mind. I knew something was wrong.
The culprit: found.
The surgery: successful.
My son: back to school, back to mischief, and back to rough-and-tumble play with his best friend—his twin.
04/06/2025
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