Good bye Appendix!

Pin It This story starts a few months back.  Averie has been have tummy issues for a few months.  I don't need to go into detail in fear of embarrassing her, but we have taken her to a few Doctor appointments, had her tested for Diabetes, Celiac, Lactose Intolerance, Gluten Intolerance, etc.  All of which came back negative or borderline.  It was getting frustrating because there weren't any answers, but symptoms were definitely affecting her life.  We just kept monitoring it and her pediatrician (who is also a family friend) would ask us how she was doing on a regular basis.  She did tell me that this was probably due to some inflammation that was bothering her bladder and bowels.  There were just no answers about why there would be inflammation.

About two weeks ago, she came home from school and told me that her back and stomach hurt during science at school.  She could pinpoint the exact time that it started hurting.  At this point, the pain was off and on, so we continued with the day as normal, going to Nutcracker practice where she danced, etc.  When she got home, she complained that her stomach hurt.  It escalated very fast where she was hunched over and crying when we would touch it.  I gave her a heating pad and this seemed to help a little as she lay in our bed watching the Food Network.  :)  She didn't have an appetite (which has not been unusual) and so Cale and I started researching appendicitis, that's immediately what we thought.  Normally we downplay things (and rightfully so to not over-react), but this time we just had a feeling it was more serious.  No doubt the Spirit guiding us.  The information we found said that appendicitis usually begins by being really sensitive around the belly button, and then moves over to the right side.  Before researching this,  Averie would cringe in pain when I would press on her belly button, and she said that was where the pain  was.  So...at around 10:30 pm Cale took her to the emergency room.  It was hard to stay back, but of course we have other children.  

Cale arrived with Averie at the ER where they took her blood.  They also gave her Motrin but it didn't take away all of the pain.  While they were waiting for results, the Dr said it was probably just food poisoning or a virus.  Cale texted me this, and I knew it wasn't just that.  Then a little while later I got a text saying she was about to go in for a CT scan.  I knew something was up, and so did he.  Sure enough the CT scan showed that she had appendicitis, and the organs around it were also inflamed.  Cale asked the Doctor if he needed to schedule surgery for tomorrow, and the Doctor said, "No, her appendix will burst in 6-7 hours, we need to go into surgery right now."  So they called the Doctor on call and she was wheeled in for surgery at 2:00 am.  This was the last I heard from Cale because his battery died.  Needless to say, I couldn't sleep well at all not hearing how everything went.  Cale said it was the hardest thing to do, to watch your baby leave your side for surgery.  It was a very helpless feeling. Averie was very scared of course and Cale felt bad because there wasn't time at that point to give her a blessing (he was able to do this later).  She was too little to do the a laparoscopic surgery so they had to cut into her.  Early in the morning, Cale just so happen to find our friend and my OB on the same floor who let him use his phone charger so he could update me.

 She's putting on a brave face here, being wheeled in for surgery:

Post surgery:

I got the kids off to school in the morning and then headed over to the hospital to relieve Cale who had been up for 36 hours.  I was greeted by this sweet face.  

She had been in wonderful hands all through the night.

Upon arrival, we were told that she could be discharged soon.  I was a bit shocked, thought she would need a little more time to recover.  But they said she was doing really well, so could recover more comfortably at home.

Here she is either dazed and confused or in deep contemplation.   We took her home, made sure we were on top of her medication, and Cale was able to sleep the long day off.

We were so grateful for the inspiration we received to take her to the ER, that it was caught before it burst, and that it happened when it did (not in the next few weeks with baby's upcoming arrival).  All little tender mercies.  Averie received so much support from her friends and family, from cards to flowers, dinner and visits.  She felt very loved. 

She has made a full recovery and hasn't had any of the symptoms she was experiencing the last few months.  It was determined that she had sub-acute appendicitis, basically where the appendix brews for a while before it decides to be removed.