Patti Field Recovers from Ruptured Appendix

	Patti Field and her family appreciate life more these days.

Thinking that the stomach soreness she felt signaled simply that she was coming down with the flu, Patti Field reported for work on an October morning last Fall. But, when she began vomiting around midafternoon, she notified her employer that she was going home early.

Her condition worsened as she continued vomiting past midnight into the early morning hours. By 6 a.m. the next day, she told her husband, Gary, that she needed to be taken to the emergency room or to see Dr. Robert DeSantis.

"When we telephoned him that morning, the answering service contacted him; and he phoned back minutes later. He told me to meet him at South Central's ER in half an hour," Patti says.

"He ordered an IV and an ultrasound."

As Patti's pain became increasingly worse and surgery seemed evident, she told Dr. DeSantis, "I have faith in you, so I want you in the operating room with me."

Early diagnostic possibilities included problems with an ovary or the appendix. Nevertheless, as they waited for test results, Dr. DeSantis contacted Dr. Chad Saul, a Laurel surgeon, for a consultation since there appeared to be an inordinate amount of infection showing up on the scope.

Patti continues, "My appendix, it seems, was tucked under my large intestine and had ruptured there. Then the large intestine had leaked some of the contents of my bowel, which added to the infection from the ruptured appendix. There was also a cyst on my right ovary."

Next, husband Gary telephoned his church while Patti went to surgery with Drs. DeSantis and Saul. Gary adds, "Dr. Saul and Dr. DeSantis kept me informed during surgery. They were all so good to me as I waited."

"Recovery in the Women's Place," Patti says, "was so nice. The place is just beautiful, and the nurses were so good to me and my family. I was hospitalized for eight days. Their gentleness helped me to recover. When people are kind and gentle to you, I mean, it just helps."

Gary praises the staff as well. "I told them that I felt as if I were in a penthouse and wrote a letter commending the staff later."

Patti says, "Dr. DeSantis is 'A+' in my book. He is just so comforting and gentle…and so genuine."

"If Patti had waited one more day to see a doctor, she would be in ICU here, on support. We'd be fighting infection in the blood, as well as peritonitis," adds Dr. DeSantis.

"I can't say enough good things about the doctors and nurses at South Central. I mean we laughed together and cried together in that hospital," adds Gary.

The editorial content of this online publication is taken from the print version of Life Matters published by South Central Regional Medical Center.

t o p  o f  p a g e