u/LakeBiwa

It is on a list of English-speaking dentists and the info on the website looks quite good, but it doesn't seem to have any reviews from non-Japanese patients. I just wonder how good the dentist's English is. It says "conversational" on the website. However, many doctors/dentists with minimal skills often claim to be "English speaking".

I went to another dentist recommended here, the English was good, but something felt off about the place and I felt uncomfortable. I felt like their were too many suggestions of unnecessary work. For example, there was talk of fixing a "tooth", which later became quite a few "teeth". I thought I was agreeing to one tooth getting fixed, but ended up not scheduling the follow-up appointment when the second doctor started talking about teeth and quoting a high price. (And if a dentist doesn't know the difference in English between "tooth" and "teeth"...)

I thought I would just write about recovering from my appendectomy as an older patient. I got a lot of valuable from info here at the time so would like to contribute. I have received a few DMs from people of a similar age to me asking questions, so this might help others.

This is what I wrote five weeks after the surgery:

I was reading all the stuff online about one to two weeks to recover. Ha! I think a lot of it depends on age and other variables. I'm a woman aged 51.

I returned to work 17 days after the surgery but was not ready. I teach uni students so just mainly stayed sitting and got them to carry/move things for me. That first week back, I could only walk very slowly and was feeling extremely "tight" as though my midriff was bound by something by the end of the day. Not exactly pain just uncomfortable.

I used a stick for a few weeks for both security and to get a seat on the train. Each week I felt better than the week before. I had some intermittent soreness at the wound sites and appendix site. I had constipation for about 4 weeks not the few days I'd read about. I had a small appetite until this week and strangely no longer want things I used to love like tomatoes and tea with milk.

I could walk pretty well this week and so didn't use the stick but since last night I have had pain in the area where my appendix would have been. It is not too bad but it is continuous and I am a bit worried as I had been feeling pretty good yesterday. I wonder if I overdid it? I stood on the train for two ten-minute rides, went up and down a few flights of stairs and carried a bit of shopping (thought it was not that heavy.) I'm hoping this is just a blip.

This was six months after the surgery:

I had the operation at the end of November and didn't feel almost "normal" again until March. I managed to go backpacking in March and carried a light 25-liter pack in Thailand and walked about 5-10 kilometers every day - tough at the start as the waist band of the backpack hurt my stomach, but fine after a week or so. I was still walking slowly in February. It really is a two steps forward, one step back healing process, I think. You will get there, but it is certainly frustrating. I've had some pain this week as my belly button seems to have suddenly regained its normal shape and I feel an ache like muscle pain late at night.

All of the "you will be fine in two weeks" was pure nonsense in my case. I also read that it takes two years for the stomach wall to fully repair. I also read that the actress Eva Longoria was walking on the red carpet days after her operation. How? Strong pain meds and out the back door and straight back to bed, probably!

1 ¾ years later:

I had periods of feeling fine and then periods of uncomfortable twinges until over a year after the operation. Sometimes the area where the appendix was hurt, and I wondered if it was stool or trapped gas stretching the wound area. Now, I rarely think about it and the scars are small. I do get itchy at the scar sites sometimes.