As I mentioned in my last post here, we were supposed to leave for vacation the 2nd, but Hubby woke up with gout in three joints. He ended up spending a week and a half in bed with it.
Tuesday, the 3rd Joy and Jim looked awful and complained of stomach cramps and nausea.
Wednesday night at church Jon began to have stomach cramps. They were bad, so I figured he was just having a worse case of the tummy bug Joy and Jim were having, especially the next morning when two more kids came down with it. I watched him closley and he seemed to be getting better. Unfortunately, I can't find any of the FOUR thermometers we have in the house, but I am (or thought I was) pretty good at telling temps by the forehead.
Jon continued to be sicker than anyone, but was improving, until Tuesday evening. That is when he began to groan in pain. Not scream, mind you. Just groan. I took him to the hospital, figuring they would rehydrate him and give him an antiviral.
Nope.
We arrived at the hospital at 6:30. They were unusually swamped, but every third time a nurse walked by they bumped him up on the triage list. He saw the first doctor by 10.
The CT scan showed an (to use the doctor's term) exploded appendix.
Surgery began at 12. The doctor said it would take 1 1/2 hours, but he was out by 1:10am.
The anesthesiologist said it has been a very long time since he has seen a case that bad and the dr said he has never seen a white blood cell count that high (80%). They removed a liter of puss from his abdomen.
But God is VERY GOOD!!! Jon is strong and tough, the doctor one of the best, and the nursing staff in our pediatrics unit very loving and attentive.
Our total stay was 8 1/2 days. I was there the whole time except to run home each day for a shower and quick meal with the family (about two hours total), during which time my mom, or one of the older kids stayed with Jon. He wasn't alone the whole time.
Can't tell you how hard it is to watch my baby laying on that bed, in pain, so very sick; too sick to even want the TV on. But God gave us reassurance through the whole thing that it was all ok.
We came home yesterday and got all settled in.
It has been more than a day and a half since he has had any pain meds (which is a good thing since the hospital didn't put the right code on the prescription so the pharmacy is having trouble filling it!).
His color is good. His white blood count is perfectly normal. His very impressive scare is healing great (about 8", shaped like a ?). He is now laying on the couch reading:-)
I learned a couple of things:
So, it seems I got my time away from the normal schedule after all, But next time, God, I would rather go camping.
Tuesday, the 3rd Joy and Jim looked awful and complained of stomach cramps and nausea.
Wednesday night at church Jon began to have stomach cramps. They were bad, so I figured he was just having a worse case of the tummy bug Joy and Jim were having, especially the next morning when two more kids came down with it. I watched him closley and he seemed to be getting better. Unfortunately, I can't find any of the FOUR thermometers we have in the house, but I am (or thought I was) pretty good at telling temps by the forehead.
Jon continued to be sicker than anyone, but was improving, until Tuesday evening. That is when he began to groan in pain. Not scream, mind you. Just groan. I took him to the hospital, figuring they would rehydrate him and give him an antiviral.
Nope.
We arrived at the hospital at 6:30. They were unusually swamped, but every third time a nurse walked by they bumped him up on the triage list. He saw the first doctor by 10.
The CT scan showed an (to use the doctor's term) exploded appendix.
Surgery began at 12. The doctor said it would take 1 1/2 hours, but he was out by 1:10am.
The anesthesiologist said it has been a very long time since he has seen a case that bad and the dr said he has never seen a white blood cell count that high (80%). They removed a liter of puss from his abdomen.
But God is VERY GOOD!!! Jon is strong and tough, the doctor one of the best, and the nursing staff in our pediatrics unit very loving and attentive.
Our total stay was 8 1/2 days. I was there the whole time except to run home each day for a shower and quick meal with the family (about two hours total), during which time my mom, or one of the older kids stayed with Jon. He wasn't alone the whole time.
Can't tell you how hard it is to watch my baby laying on that bed, in pain, so very sick; too sick to even want the TV on. But God gave us reassurance through the whole thing that it was all ok.
We came home yesterday and got all settled in.
It has been more than a day and a half since he has had any pain meds (which is a good thing since the hospital didn't put the right code on the prescription so the pharmacy is having trouble filling it!).
His color is good. His white blood count is perfectly normal. His very impressive scare is healing great (about 8", shaped like a ?). He is now laying on the couch reading:-)
I learned a couple of things:
- I need to hide a thermometer that only I am allowed to use.
- You can't tell Jon's temp by feeling his forehead like you can most kids (they had to use the oral thermometer on him in the hospital. The fancy "thermal" one that reads the head and jugular vein wouldn't give a reading that agreed with his symptoms. Had I used a thermometer, I'd have caught that this was more serious sooner.)
- Jon has a VERY high pain tolerance, like my mom. The kid had an EXPLODED APPENDIX and rated his pain as an 8 on a scale 1-10. Whenever his pain hit a 3-4 we knew it would be a 6-7 for other people and we would give him his pain meds. From now on if he says, "Owe." I will take him to the hospital!
- Jon is a very polite, kind person. He is also very strong!
- I have done a good job teaching Joy. She ran the house while I was gone with hardly a hitch. It doesn't look much different than it would have had I been here:-)
So, it seems I got my time away from the normal schedule after all, But next time, God, I would rather go camping.
