This story happened last summer, to my oldest, who was then four. My brother had had an appendectome when he was that age; it burst on the OR table. So we were nervous when our girl started complaining of abdominal pains and was running a fever. Here’s how our story went down:
3 am Monday, S. throws up once. Clear liquid. No solid food. Minimal mess. She’s scared but okay. Can’t eat a thing. I go to office to file grades, wife calls me; our neighbor the ER nurse tells her to have her checked out — neighbor calls ahead and tells them they’re going so that they will take good care of her. She’s got a fever.
They do a blood test. White cell count high. CAT scan ordered. It takes the girl three hours to drink about three ounces of the testing contrast fluid. Stubborn Taurus-Polack-Sicilian baby. Test shows no indication she’s got appendicitis. Surgeon pokes and doesn’t think it’s appendicitis.
But the residents in pediatric ward think it’s possible. so does the attending doctor, when she arrives at ten. The chief resident told us we’d see her at 7:30. We were trying to leave in the middle of the night because we think she’s just got a viral infection. She pees fine, no pain, not likely a urinary tract infection, but the stall tactics work. The doctor recommends a urine culture. the analysis of the day before showed some blood. She gets more rest. She pees. Gives the culture to the nurse. She’s on tylenol and the fever has broken. She has a healthy bowel movement and is returning to her usual self. The stomach hurts but she wants a bagel. We want her to have one too, but she’s on a liquid/jello diet. Hates the stuff. Finally the chief pediatric surgeon arrives about 8 pm tuesday. He was in surgery all day — a child was born with her small intestine outside her body, he saved her — and he feels my daughter, and says, “give her something to eat, see how she does, get another white cell count in the morning, and if all goes well we’ll get her out in the afternoon.”
I can’t stand the multiple opinions muddling our judgment. We slept in the room monday night. Mother-in-law took care of baby. I wnet home with baby Tuesday night. Big sis is in fine spirits since she got up and moved her body and her bowels. engaging, charming, and all that stuff. I leave hoping she and her mother get thru the night okay. By now she’s got a yellow discharge in her eye — this happened after they gave her antibiotics into her IV.
To be continued…