A woman is going viral on TikTok after sharing how a recent medical procedure left her without an appendix.
Bella (@local.albino), who is 23, said she’s had two surgeries for endometriosis in the past five years. But during her last procedure, she said doctors told her when she woke up that they took out her appendix, too. What’s worse, Bella said she didn’t sign off on this nor was she told prior to the surgery that her appendix would be removed.
“I had endometriosis surgery, right? And I woke up and they said, ‘Hey, we took your appendix,’” Bella said.
Upon questioning, Bella said the doctors reassured her that her appendix was “healthy and totally normal.” But they took it out as a precautionary measure so that, if Bella ever needed medical attention for pelvic pain, doctors could rule out appendicitis as the culprit.
“You took my whole [expletive] organ?” Bella questioned, clearly confused. As of Sunday, her clip sharing this seemingly-odd surgical procedure had amassed more than 565,500 views.
Why did doctors take out her appendix?
In a follow-up clip, Bella told viewers which surgical procedures she did sign-off on, which included the removal of her IUD and “excision of endometriosis,” among other things. But in addition to the items Bella approved, her surgical paperwork also said that doctors performed a “laparoscopic appendectomy.”
“So, no, I did not sign off on this,” she said.
Bella said she was warned in advance that endometriosis could’ve spread to her appendix, bladder, colon, or uterus. And if any of those organs had endometriosis on them, Bella said she was fine with the doctors performing surgery there.
Her appendix, however, was “completely healthy and normal.” Bella said she was told during a follow-up appointment, though, that a surgeon removed her appendix in case she has pelvic pain down the road.
“The average time for ER staff to evaluate appendicitis is four hours with a CT scan,” Bella said doctors told her. “So if you do go into the ER with a burst cyst or endo pain, they won’t do that.”
So now, if Bella has pelvic pain, doctors can rule out appendicitis. But the woman still expressed confusion as to why hers was removed if it’s healthy.
“I wake up from the surgery: no IUD, no tubes… no endo, no appendix,” Bella said.
@local.albino I choose the bear #womenshealth #endometriosis #endosurgery #pcos ♬ original sound – Bellamybabyyy
Why other organs might be removed during endometriosis surgery
According to Pelvic Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM), the appendix is among the organs which are most commonly affected by endometriosis. As a result, it may need to get fully or partially removed during surgery even if it looks normal.
If the endometriosis has spread to the appendix, it’s recommended to remove it, PRM said. But in younger patients, and “especially someone with extensive endometriosis disease, the appendix should be removed even if it’s normal looking.”
One of the benefits to performing an appendectomy for endometriosis patients is that they now have a streamlined recovery process. But this also reduces the risk of future complications.
“Removing the appendix eliminates the possibility of appendicitis or other appendix-related issues in the future, providing long-term relief and peace of mind,” RESTORE, a center for endometriosis, reported.
And Bella isn’t the only endometriosis patient to say that her doctor removed her appendix. Ten months ago in the r/endometriosis subreddit, another Redditor said that their “healthy” appendix was removed during “endo excision surgery.” Since endometriosis commonly attacks the appendix, the consensus among Redditors was that doctors will take “a healthy appendix during the endo surgery because of the risk of endo patients not seeking treatment for appendicitis due to their baseline pain/pain threshold being so high.”
“I had an emergency appendectomy because my (then unknown) endo was basically suffocating it,” one reddit user shared. “It’s a ticking time bomb most of the time anyway so good riddance.”
Viewers express shock at doctor’s decision
Even if it is somewhat routine for surgeons to perform an appendectomy while treating endometriosis, some users expressed shock that Bella’s doctor didn’t tell her about this beforehand.
“But why would they not tell you beforehand that they were going to remove it?” one viewer asked.
“I would have agreed to this, but how are you not going to even tell me first?!” another questioned.
“Thanks? I think?” a third user quipped.
Others, however, said they thought it was smart for the surgeon to remove the appendix.
“Honestly, I feel like that’s really helpful,” one woman said. “The issue is not asking medical consent?”
“Isn’t the appendix… useless,” another asked. “It’s like… the only organ that I would want out because… it literally does nothing.”
“The doctors did the same thing to me and I appreciated it,” a third patient added. “Endometriosis is difficult enough to treat and diagnose without concerns for the appendix. The appendix has no purpose anyway.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Bella via TikTok comment.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
