Scary Stuff for a Mom

My Sunday started out with me being tired and a bit cranky from staying up until 2 AM the night before for Ryan's surprise birthday party. My kids were with their dad and were supposed to get dropped off to me at 3PM. Adia called around 10:30 and said she wanted to come home cause her tummy hurt. No biggie. She comes home and I give her some Tums and sprite and tell her to lay in bed and relax a bit. Well the tummy ache doesn't go away. I of course am getting anxious. I am not sure if this is a bug, she's constipated, gas, or something a bit more serious. I am thinking it can't be anything serious or she would be in A LOT of pain. Like crying and curled up in a ball pain.

Around 5:30 she is still complaining that her stomach hurts. I asked her to lay down and show me where on her tummy it hurt. She pointed to the right side. I asked if it hurt anywhere else and she said no. Uh Oh! I am still unsure of what to do. I don't want to sit in the ER for 6-8 hours on top of the ridiculous co-pay and be told it's nothing but what if it really is something??

I decided to call my dad who is a nurse for some advice. He tells me that if I am concerned enough to call him then I should take her in. Better safe than sorry and if it is something and it gets worse I am going to end up in the ER with her anyway. Better now than at 3AM.

I call her dad and drop Lando off to him to stay the night cause there is NO WAY I am taking him to the ER to sit. Ryan, Adia, and I then head up to the hospital.

Things have changed at bit in this ER since I have last been there (with Adia 8 years ago). They now have a pediatric ER that is totally set up for kids. We didn't have to sit in a waiting area with a bunch of sick adults. In fact we didn't have to sit in a waiting area at all. We were in a room immediately and seen by a Dr within 45 minutes of being there.

After the Dr. examined Adia he said he didn't think it was her appendix since there was no vomiting or diarrhea and she didn't seem to be in a ton of pain. He said the only way to know for sure is to do a CT scan which would take about 4 hours total.

Adia got to meet with Desiree who is a "hospital friend" and explained everything about getting an IV and a CT scan done. She showed her pictures of the machines and some of the things used for IV's. She also stayed with Adia while she got her IV put in.

I sent Ryan home at this point and they scheduled a CT scan for 10:30 that night. Adia had to drink some special "lemonade" and she got her IV line hooked up. We were done with the CT scan by midnight and then we had to wait for the results.

Just as I was about to give Adia a sip of water since she was dying of thirst the nurse came in and said that she had appendicitis and the appendix had to come out. She wrote up her report, Adia was admitted to the hospital and we were taken to the pediatric unit. It's now 2:30 AM, neither Adia or I has slept and we are exhausted.

Once we were in our room we were told that the surgery would be scheduled for sometime tomorrow and we would be contacted. And we were contacted at about 7:30 AM and surgery was scheduled.

Adia was pretty out of it for most of the day since they had her on some pain killers. She wasn't even worried about surgery. She got to color and watch movies. She was visited by a cute dog named Elvis. The only thing she wanted was a drink which of course she couldn't have.

Visiting with Elvis before surgery

We got brought up to the OR around 2:00 PM and Adia was prepped for surgery. She did good until it was time to be wheeled back. She started crying which got me started crying. Luckily the hospital has a program where another of Adia's "hospital friends" Anne got to actually go into the OR with her until she was put under.

Anne met with Adia in the pediatric unit and talked to her about everything that was going to happen before the surgery and what to expect after the surgery. She brought Adia crafts and sat with us before Adia actually went into surgery. She and Desiree were both great!

Her surgery was done with a scope and everything went really well. She was really confused when she woke up the first time and she actually doesn't even remember it. We spent another night in the hospital where neither of us got any sleep again.

On Tuesday Adia was doing well, she could walk around a bit, was taking in fluids, and eating a bit so we got sent home. I was glad to be out of the hospital but I know she enjoyed all the attention!

It's now Thursday and she's 95% better. I am shocked at how fast she has bounced back. I know I am glad we are all sleeping in our own beds and that Adia is okay. Even though it was a minor surgery, and surgery on your child is going to be a scary situation. I don't want to have to go through this again.