Goodye Appendix

It all started at 8pm on Friday night. After our Cantata, Kaleigh just didn't look right. When I asked her if she was ok, she started to cry and said her tummy hurt. Now she did not finish her dinner that night so I chalked the tummy ache up to hunger. Common childhood complaint, right? We immediately went home. At about 3:30am she came in and said she had just thrown up but there was nothing but bile in the toilet. I again figured it for hunger so I then gave her some crackers and a bit of juice. I put her back to bed but she was up again at 6:30am throwing up. I sent her back to bed and did not hear from her till 9am. I then went in and asked her how she was feeling. She still had a tummy ache but wanted to eat. I gave her some juice and toast which she immediately threw up. I figured the stomache bug had finally decided to visit. After all we were due, my kids have not had the stomache bug in like three years. She then started to complain that the lower right part of her stomache hurt. That was an immediate red flag for me, but was it a pulled muscle from puking I wondered. I told her to lay down and I did the classic push test. When I released the pressure, she started to cry. I then pushed on the left side and she said it hurt on the right. UH-OH I thought. SHe was showing text book signs of appendicitis. I called the doctor and he said to bring her in immediately. He examined her in his office and suspected the same diagnosis. He then admitted her to the hospital for testing and observation. We got there about 12:30 and were placed in a room right away. The nurses began and I.V. on her immediately and then she was given this chalky drink that she had an hour to drink as much as she could. We then got down to the CAT Scan around 3:45. The doctor cam ein around 6pm to inform us that she indeed had an obstructed and infected appendix and it would need to come out before it ruptured. She was scheduled for surgery within the hour.

{Kaleigh giving the thumbs up before surgery}

Unfortunately, she did not get into the O.R. until 8:30pm. She ended up getting bumped by an emergency C- section. We were allowed into ICU around 9:45 as she was waking up.

{Waking up in ICU after surgery)

She was is ICU for about 45 minutes for recovery and then we were shipped back to her room on Greer. We did not get ANY sleep until around 2am. Apparently this particular DR. likes his patients checked every hour on the hour for the next five hours after surgery. So we slept as well as you can in a hospital from 2 am until 5:30 am when the next vitals check was done. We then dozed until 7:30am when the new shift nurse came in. Kaleigh was in charge of her own pain management as they put her on a morphine pump. When she felt she was in a lot of pain all she had to do was push the button. I was very proud of her that she barely pushed the thing. She must have her Mommy's high pain threshold. The doctor came in about 10 am and told her that he was very impressed with her progress and 2 things needed to happen for her to go home. She needed to do some walking and she needed to show that she could keep solid food down. Both of which she was very eager to demonstrate because she wanted to go home!

{Sunday afternoon- Kaleigh's first meal since Friday night!}

We were discharged by 12:50 and home by 1:30. I praise God that the problem was caught in time and that she is making such good progress. I will continue to pray for her pain and that the Lord healing hand be upon her as she continues to heal.




{All smiles telling Daddy she can come home!}