Who Really Needs an Appendix Anyways??

Not William.... Or at least that's what William's body thought. My sweet little guy left me Saturday feeling great... More than great... Excited to go visit his dad. When he got back Monday though, it was clear, there was something wrong. I got home from work and when I gave him a hug he was burning up. I took his temperature and he was at 101. He was fatigued and quiet but doing ok. Tuesday he stayed home from school even though his temperature was normal. He was complaining of a sore throat and given the fever the night before we kept him home. We weren't taking any risks. He was able to go to school Wednesday. He did complain part way through school that his tummy hurt. But given that it was so close to lunch, his teacher figured it was due to him being hungry. He went home and I got a phone call at 5:45 pm that he was vomiting and complaining of stomach pain. It all sounds so innocent. Probably the flu, right?? Nope. By the time I got him at 6:30 PM he had vomited again and was in a lot of pain. He ate three bites of applesauce and had a few drinks of water. He went to bed and fell asleep before 8. I called the advice nurse and given his symptoms and low grade fever she felt it might be flu like too. She gave us a few things to try and said to call back if symptoms got worse or the fever got higher. He woke up at 10:30 PM screaming and crying. His stomach hurt. We tried a few things to get him comfy and got him back in bed. He had a low grade fever 99 degrees or so. He went back to bed and t 5:30 AM he woke up crying again. In pain again. This time we did the same things, but I gave him Tylenol and checked his temp. This time he was at 101. He went back to bed. He woke up not long after at 7:15 having the same issue. I rechecked his temp, again it was at 101. He layed on the couch with me. I called the doctor's office and they had an appointment for him at 11:40 AM. He fell back asleep and we got him up just after 9 AM. He ate some applesauce and we headed to the dr.

His doctor immediately saw that something was wrong. He had some tests run. When the results came in the dr wasn't happy. Given his temperature, his stomach pain, and a very high white blood cell count they immediately gave him an IV with fluids, referred on to a surgeon and an ambulance to Doernbecher's Children's Hospital for further testing/treatment. We had an ultrasound done and it didn't show anything. After being given some options and him being on some pain medication to keep him comfortable, we opted to do a CT scan. The CT scan showed that his appendix was in bad shape. It also was sitting behind the bladder, which was why his pain wasn't located where they typically see it. We were then moved to a room they had on hold for him since 6 PM. He was started on antibiotics and we were told they would contact us about surgery. He continued on pain medications and something for nausea. His temperature continued to go up and down all day/night. He had an up and down night with sleep and restlessness. At 4 AM the surgeon came into the room and got us all set for surgery. He had surgery at 7:30 AM.

We were moved from his room down to Pre-OP at 7. He went in and at just after 9 AM, the surgeon came and notified us of how the surgery went. We weren't expecting to hear that it had ruptured. They had to clean him out pretty good. We will be at the hospital for at least 3 days and he will be on antibiotics, pain meds, tylenol, and IV fluids for a while. Right now... He's sleeping peacefully in his room. I am thankful for the quick work of his pediatrician at Kaiser and the great staff we've had here at OHSU. It's made it somewhat more tolerable than it could have been. We're hoping for a good speedy recovery so we can get him home where he's even more comfortable.

This all changed so quick. I don't think I'll ever look at those set of symptoms the same way again. I know when there's something wrong with him. This pain wasn't like other pains before. This pain had him in tears, vomiting, barely walking, and very very very uncomfortable. I feel horrible for my baby. I wish he never had to go through this pain. Hopefully we'll never have to go through this type of thing with anyone else we're close to again. It's been scary. It's been emotional. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions. The more time we're here the more I long for home. Hopefully soon we'll be there.. I know there's a doggie at home that his missing her kiddo.