Wednesday night Eli woke up crying and I thought it was a bad dream and put him back to bed. Then Emma woke up vomiting so I assumed they both had the flu and waited for Eli to start throwing up too. By the next morning he still hadn't but I was worried about him because he was walking funny, all hunched over like an old man and said his stomach hurt. I still thought he had the flu but asked David (who had taken a sick day) if we should take him to the doctor. We ended up going to see our pediatrician that afternoon.
Our pediatrician asked a couple questions, watched him walk around and then did a quick exam. After pushing on his stomach a couple of times he said, "It's appendicitis and I think it might have already ruptured." With that he turned around picked up the phone and was talking with the pediatric surgery unit at Banner Desert Hospital. He told us to get in our car and go straight over there and the ER would know we were coming.
David is probably facing several speeding camera tickets for our 10 minute drive from the doctor's office to the hospital. My parents met us there and took Emma with them for a sleepover at Granna's house. In the ER we were taken back and then hunkered down to wait. He had an X-ray and a CAT scan ordered but before we could do any of that we had to get an IV in.
I just want to take a moment here and say I was amazed by the lack of urgency in the ER. I mean his appendix had possibly ruptured and they were all walking around like it was no big deal if it had. I know some of the nurses didn't believe that he had appendicitis because he didn't have some of the normal symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting. But I know it was a direct blessing of the Lord that he didn't have those symptoms. If he did I would have assumed it was the flu and not taken him in. Who knows what would of happened then>
Anyway, back to our story. I'll spare you the 90 minutes of IV hell, and just tell you it took 6 tries to get an IV into that boy at the end of which we were all shaking, crying, and wanting to go home. Those little kids know just how to break your heart. During attempt number 4 or 5 Eli looked at me and screamed/cried "Don't do it, don't hurt me, Mommy please take me home, please no more ouchies!" I was not the only one crying in the room. All the nurses were very nice except for one who was brusque and not sympathetic who I almost smacked during her attempt to put an IV in.
After that we were ushered out for X-rays and cat scans. Both of which came back showing a badly ruptured appendix.The pediatric surgeon came to see us and tell us that he wanted to treat it with strong antibiotics and do the surgery itself in 4-6 weeks. We were going to be admitted to the hospital for 4-5 days.
Thursday Night- Admitted to pediatric ICU. Antibiotics started.
Friday- PICC line placed. This is a type of permanent IV, it goes through his upper arm and into his chest. This was so he could continue getting IV meds after we went home.
Friday night moved to the regular pediatric floor.
Saturday- Anitbiotics and waiting. Eli is very bored with hospital room, we spend a lot of time in the pediatric playroom. We also buy him a DVD player so he could watch movies and so Mommy doesn't have to watch anymore Cartoon Network.
Sunday- Antibiotics and waiting. Mommy comes down with Flu. Lovely.
Monday- Antibiotics and waiting. Eli feels much better, Mommy feels much worse.
Monday Night- released from hospital and home health nurse comes to show me how to administer Eli's antibiotics. We all fall into bed a sleep like the dead.
For those of you who made it this far here is a brief series of pictures that Eli took of his hospital stay.
Eli is tentatively scheduled to have his appendix removed the first week in May. Thank you everyone who helped, especially Mom, Dad, Adam, Christy, & Chris for watching Emma. Bryan for bringing me food, Lindsay for wanting to help even though she and her kids were all very sick, my homeschool group for meals for the week, and everyone who prayed for us. We love you all! And by the way, if you haven't seen me or my new haircut before that is NOT the way I normally look. That is my "5 days in a hospital, with the flu, and no sleep" look. :-)
2 comments:
I'm glad he seems to be doing well. It never ceases to amaze me how fast kids bounce back. And you look like a beautiful, loving, caring mommy in those pictures.
That is so scary. Poor baby. I hope everything goes well with his surgery.
I am so glad to hear all is going better!
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