The latest issue of the American Submariner had an article about emergency appendectomies that were performed at sea on submarines during World War II.\u00a0 While reading, I was reminded of my own appendix which was almost removed on board the USS Drum SSN 677.\u00a0\u00a0It’s easy to remember that this all occurred in February 1975.\u00a0 It was just months earlier on Christmas Day that the XO brought me a message that I was a new daddy.\u00a0 In typical submarine fashion, she was two days old when I found out.<\/p>\n
We were underway somewhere in the China Sea, doing some top secret stuff.\u00a0 I was the night baker.\u00a0 At around 0300, I started feeling some severe pain in my side.\u00a0 It got so bad that the next morning I went to see the Doc.\u00a0 Of course, he started doing some tests that made me hurt worse.\u00a0 I can still remember him pressing on my abdomen and making me say some sailor like words.<\/p>\n
In the next day or two, my symptoms got much worse.\u00a0 I had a fever and no appetite.\u00a0 The worst problem was the constipation.\u00a0 It turned out that my appendix was inflamed.<\/p>\n
The Doc was worried that it would rupture.\u00a0 He explained what\u00a0 the consequences could be.\u00a0 Needless to say, it didn’t look good.\u00a0 It was decided that I would immediately be put to bed.\u00a0 If you’re not familiar with bunks on a Sturgeon class fast attack submarine, I’ll just say that they aren’t nearly roomy enough for the corpsman to use as a sick bed.<\/p>\n
As I explained earlier, the boat was on a secret operation.\u00a0 It turned out that it was not possible to get me off the boat to a hospital.\u00a0 To this day, I don’t even know if the Captain was able to communicate the problem to SubPac.<\/p>\n
They made a rack for me in the Torpedo Room.\u00a0 Stretch, the torpedoman, turned the area into a convincing hospital room.\u00a0 Sheets were hung to make a walled in area.\u00a0 There was a sign that said “Hospital” and another posting visiting hours.\u00a0 It was amusing at first.\u00a0 I didn’t know I would be lying there for ten days.<\/p>\n
The Doc was worried that my appendix would rupture.\u00a0 He took as many precautions as possible.\u00a0 I was strapped in the bunk to prevent movement.\u00a0 An IV was inserted in my vein at the elbow.\u00a0 He strapped my arm flat to a board to prevent me bending my arm.\u00a0 My other arm was strapped to my side.\u00a0 I could not move at all.<\/p>\n
The worst thing of all was the stomach pump he inserted.\u00a0 This was similar to an aquarium air tube.\u00a0 It was lubricated and stuck in my nose.\u00a0 Until then, I never knew the esophagus was connected to the stomach.\u00a0 The only good thing about the pump was it took my mind off of the other discomforts.\u00a0 About the sixth day, I told Stretch I would give him a hundred dollars if he would pull that damn tube out.\u00a0 He told me he could use the money, but the Doc would only stick it back in.<\/p>\n
I spent ten days flat on my back with nothing to eat or drink.\u00a0 One time the Doc did let me have a few ice chips.\u00a0 Its funny how pleasant that memory is 45 years later.\u00a0 For the most part, my memories of this period was pure misery, especially that tube in my nose.<\/p>\n
The Doc visited me several times a day.\u00a0 After changing my IV and taking my vital signs, he would tell me how excited he was that I was stable.\u00a0 I’m pretty sure he was happy that he wouldn’t have to operate.\u00a0 He assured me that they were trying to get me to a hospital.\u00a0 All I had to do was “hang in there”.\u00a0 There wasn’t much else I could do.<\/p>\n
Finally, the day came.\u00a0 I was going to be evacuated to the hospital in Sasebo, Japan.\u00a0 The plan was for the boat to surface after dark and transfer me to a tugboat.\u00a0 I was going to be moved from the Torpedo Room to the Captain’s Stateroom.\u00a0 From there, I would be moved to the tugboat when it came alongside.<\/p>\n
The first problem was how to move me.\u00a0 That was soon solve when the ship was (partially) rigged for loading torpedoes.\u00a0 I got raised up on the skid used for loading torpedoes on the submarine.\u00a0 I think the Doc must have given me a sedative as I have no memory of the actual transfer.\u00a0 I remember being in the Torpedo Room and then I remember being in the stateroom.<\/p>\n
It was time to get me ready for transfer to the tug.\u00a0 My IV was removed, but the Doc left that damn stomach pump in.\u00a0 He said they might need to reconnect in on the tugboat.\u00a0 I was happy that I could at least move my arms again.<\/p>\n
The China Sea gets pretty cold in the winter.\u00a0 I was dressed in a poopy suit and\u00a0 then my dungarees.\u00a0 \u00a0had to put on a foul weather jacket and stocking cap.\u00a0 Finally, I got an inflatable life jacket.\u00a0 After I was attired for cold weather, I was strapped in a Stokes stretcher.<\/p>\n
For those that don’t know, a Stokes stretcher is a wire basket with metal rods for transferring patients from ship to ship.\u00a0 I remember asking the Doc one important question.\u00a0 If I’m tied down in the stretcher and by bad luck get dropped in the water, how does the life jacket inflate?\u00a0 He put the lanyard in my mouth and said, “jerk your head back.”<\/p>\n
The boat was finally surfaced around 2000.\u00a0 The seas were pretty rough.\u00a0 I could hear the dialog between the Drum and the tugboat.\u00a0 It was determined that due to the high seas, I could not be transferred.\u00a0 They were deciding on the best course of action.\u00a0 Finally, it was determined to send a helicopter to pick me up.\u00a0 At least I didn’t need to worry about inflating the life jacket.<\/p>\n
I was removed from the stretcher and placed on the CO’s rack to wait for the helicopter.\u00a0 I took a couple of hours and got there around 2200.\u00a0 The worst part of the transfer for me had arrived.\u00a0 I had to climb the ladder to the bridge.\u00a0 I was pretty week from being flat on my back for ten days, but I finally made it.<\/p>\n
A man was lowered from the helicopter to the bridge.\u00a0 How he did it, can never know.\u00a0 The boat was making heavy rolls and the target area of the bridge wasn’t all that big.\u00a0 He made it and I was strapped to him with my head at his waistline.\u00a0 The Doc still hadn’t removed the stomach pump and I had a case of the dry heaves.\u00a0 As I was lifted up, I remember him yelling in my ear, “Don’t puke on me!”<\/p>\n
The trip to the hospital is mostly a blur.\u00a0 I’m pretty sure I slept for most of it.\u00a0 We got to the hospital in Sasebo around 2300 and I was prepped for immediate surgery.\u00a0 What I remember most is the feeling of relief when they removed that tube from my nose.<\/p>\n
The next morning, the surgeon came in and told me the surgery went well.\u00a0 He told me that the corpsman had done a great job of keeping me stable and alive.\u00a0 Then he said, “let’s watch some TV.”\u00a0 He turned on the local Japanese news station.\u00a0 There was coverage of the helicopter landing and me being offloaded.\u00a0 It turned out that the Japanese were worried about me coming from a nuclear submarine.\u00a0 Luckily, I wasn’t contaminated and a threat to the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The latest issue of the American Submariner had an article about emergency appendectomies that were performed at sea on submarines during World War II.\u00a0 While reading, I was reminded of my own appendix which was almost removed on board the USS Drum SSN 677.\u00a0\u00a0It’s easy to remember that this all occurred in February 1975.\u00a0 It … <\/p>\n