What I thought was a stomach flu for my sweet boy Kai was actually his appendix. He woke up on Sunday morning complaining that his bladder hurt, but we kept saying is it gas. Jason had to leave because he was running a race and had to meet up with everyone. So he was gone by 8:00 am. I listened to Kai's stomach and you could hear the rumbling so I gave him some Gas-X for kids and that didn't help, in fact he was screaming, "IT'S NOT WORKING! IT'S A LIE! THEY DON'T WORK!" He was constantly thrashing back and forth and it was heart breaking to see him go through this. After about 2 hours he did start to calm down and asked me to get him some cereal but when I gave it to him he immediately said he couldn't eat it. You could tell he was going to throw up. I was rubbing his back and he said, "I'm going to be here a while" basically code for thanks mom you can leave now. So he came out and I asked him if he felt better and he said yes with such a look of relief too. So I thought oh yeah stomach flu. So the rest of the day he pretty much laid in bed and drank ginger ale, but did not eat. By 6:30 his stomach was fine he said but his bladder still hurt. My gut was telling me something was not right but I still kept thinking ok maybe he has a bladder infection or UTI, so I asked him all those basic questions but he kept saying no. So I put him to bed and of course went to look up different things on the male anatomy. I was starting to think appendix, but he was adamant that the pain in the middle of his lower abdomen. So in my research it mentioned a fever and pain that is over so many hours. So I took his temp, but it was only 99.2 and I figured ok lets just get some more rest and we would see how he felt in the morning. At 12:30am he is SCREAMING for me. I run into his room and he is crying saying mom the pain wont go away. So I knew this is not good. So I asked if he wanted to go to the emergency but he kept saying he could wait. I just did not feel right about that so Jason said to call the on call Doctor and see what they think. They said because it was over 2 hours of constant pain they thought he should be seen. So Jason stayed with Zoe, we were not about to drag her to an ER - imagine an almost 2 year old that is feeling fine in the ER. So Kai and I were off, we got there about 1:30 am and they ran the blood work to see how his white blood count was, which it turned out to be fine. The doctor came in though and felt around and the pain in his lower stomach right in the middle was tender to the touch. He said he was 60 to 70% sure it was his appendix so he ordered the CT scan and by 5:30 am they came in and said it was definitely his appendix. He was in surgery by 7:15 am and about 50 minutes later the surgeon came out and let us know he was ok. He showed us pictures of the appendix and how enlarged it was. He also showed us where it was very close to rupturing. Kai had many visitors and people to hang out with. Grandpo Paul came, Auntie Terri, Auntie Whitney, Grandma Jan and then our friends Kris & Lynda with Kai's buddy Thomas and little Sarah. They brought gifts from the Lacrosse team too. I do have to say we had the best nurse ever. Nurse Chris was great, I don't think I have ever seen a nurse as attentive and caring as she was. She was amazing to all the visitors and of course Kai. We loved her in fact Jason is writing up a recommendation on her for some Daisey Nurse recognition award.
So in all that I just have to say that no matter how many times this surgery has been done, or how it may be the most common surgery, there is nothing that can prepare you to let your child go into the capable hands of the surgeons and nurses. It was very hard to see the fear in my baby boys eyes and him ask me to go back with him and explain that I couldn't. Everything in my body wanted to say I am going back there with him, he is MY child and I am just as scared as he and I need his comfort as much as he needs mine. But I had to push all that back and wait till he was taken before I could really let go, so we prayed together and then he was gone. Jason was not there yet, he couldn't drop Pea off till after 7:00am and so I was there waiting alone, I prayed and prayed but just needed him to be there. When Jason did get there about 15 minutes after they took Kai back he just held me as I cried. I knew it was just as hard for him so it was great to have that comfort. Of course we put ourselves together and breathed a huge sigh of relief as we went back to recovery and saw him. Our son was there and he was ok and perfect minus an appendix. I am so thankful to God for giving us peace and yes comfort through all this. He is our strength and refuge always.
Sweet Kai holding onto the Mr. Woofer his Auntie Terri brought him.
Look who is more excited that there is Jello cubes.
Zoe was very good while she visited her brother. She was more then happy playing with the curtain.
Much better Kai playing a game he got from Auntie Whitney and Grandma Jan. He is home.
1 comment:
SO glad poor Kai is okay, how scary!!
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