Sophomore gets appendicitis during annual Mexico trip

Sophomore Jules Ducrot got an even more memorable experience than he could have ever dreamed when he went on the annual February break trip to Cuernavaca, Mexico.

On the Saturday before leaving for home, the students headed to a resort to spend the day relaxing. When they were there ordering lunch, a few ordered a sandwich that caused a few of them to feel sick later that day and throw up.

At first, nobody thought that it was anything more than food poisoning, but after an evening of severe stomach pain, Ducrot and fellow sophomore Julia Deng were taken to a private clinic in Cuernavaca to get checked out. For Deng it was just food poisoning, but for Ducrot, it was far more serious.

Ducrot and Spanish teacher Arnoldo Rodriguex were told that Ducrot had to have an emergency surgery to have his appendicitis removed.  

“The surgeon came in, and my parents weren’t here: My dad was in China and my mom was in France, so they couldn’t give consent for the surgery,” Ducrot said. “A second doctor came in and then checked me, and he verified that it was my appendix.”

Ducrot thinks he could not have gone through the surgery without the aid of Rodriguex, who he said acted like “a second father” to him.

“When the doctors told me I had to have surgery, I said it was fine,” Ducrot said. “I just asked how it was going to be, and why, but I wasn’t scared. I knew that Mr. Rodriguex knew what he was doing and he wouldn’t put me in a situation of danger.”

Though the hour-long operation caused a lot of pain, he has since recovered almost fully, taking pain medications daily, with only a large bandage across his stomach.

“It’s been almost a week now and I can walk normally now, except it hurts a little sometimes,” said Ducrot

Because of the operation, Ducrot missed a trip to Taxco and a graduation ceremony from the Mexican school they had attended. He also missed the flight back to San Francisco with the rest of the students on the trip and stayed behind with Rodriguex while recovering. The pair finally made it home on Friday, March 3.

“Since I’ve been back, all of my teachers have been really flexible. Mr. Safine and the office worked a lot with teachers to go easy on me, and excusing as many assignments as they can,” Ducrot said. “I’m lucky to be a part of such a caring community.”