Where Exactly Does It Hurt?

The Story

The surgeons didn’t guess “appendix” out of nowhere. Stina’s chart says her pain was in the RLQ – the right lower quadrant – and that map points straight at the appendixA small, finger-like pouch attached to the cecum, thought to play a role in immune function.. To follow their reasoning (and later, to see where it went wrong) we need the same language they use.

This page is the clinicians’ map: how the body is described when everyone has to mean the exact same spot. We’ll pin Stina’s three recurring pains onto it – the right-lower-belly attacks, the chest pain, the swollen joint.