Surgeries: Appendectomy vs Total Colectomy

I want to preface this picture by saying that severe appendicitis is more immediately life threatening if it bursts that the need for an emergency colectomy. The colon will (likely) not burst. 

What I DO want to mention is that when I was 17, when I had an emergency total colectomy, I had several people compare it to an appendectomy. In fact, I had SEVERAL people tell me that a colectomy was a smaller, less serious, less intense surgery. One father of a girl who was 'supposed' to be a friend even told my mother that it was not a big deal; that it was not a big surgery. 

It was. It was huge! 

This was also at the time where they could not remove the large intestine with a laparoscope... I had to be completely opened up. And it was an emergency surgery. I would have died if they had not removed my colon. 

So, to those who STILL continue to say that removing an appendix is a 'bigger' surgery that a colectomy, take a look at the following photo: 

See that little tiny portion labeled Appendix? Compare it to the entirety of the ascending colon, transverse colon, and descending colon, plus the rectum. All of that was removed in an emergency situation. 

Still think an appendectomy is a "bigger" surgery? 

Still think the colectomy was "no big deal"? 

Think again.