Emergency

One night during the last week of school, Brooke started complaining of a tummy ache right before bed. She was able to go to the bathroom and she and we both chalked it up to eating too much pizza before running around at soccer practice. That night, she was up every hour or two crying about her tummy. She never threw up and didn't have a fever, so we didn't know quite what to think.

The following day was Field Day at school and when I told Brooke she wasn't going to be able to go and she didn't put up a fight, I knew she wasn't feeling well. She didn't eat and was lethargic all day, even napping in her room on her own. She didn't want to walk and was asking us to carry her places, and on a few occasions mentioned the pain specifically in her right side. This rang a bell and I googled it and found that complaints of pain in the lower right abdomen is a symptom never to ignore in children. I called the pediatrician, still thinking I was being a hypochondriac (she still didn't have a fever and hadn't vomited), but after hearing her symptoms and briefly putting me on hold, told us to take her straight to the emergency room.

Thankfully, Matt's parents were able to come stay with Miles and Paige and Matt met me at the ER. Our hospital has a pediatric ER and we couldn't have been happier with how quickly and smoothly they got things done. We arrived around four and saw a doctor who talked us through all the things that it could be (I think he was a little skeptical). They did her bloodwork and an ultrasound. Even though the tech didn't say anything, I could tell from his reaction that something wasn't right. We got back from the ultrasound and the doctor told us that her white blood cell count was elevated, meaning that she had some sort of infection and that she wouldn't be leaving that night. Shortly after that, he got a call from the radiologist who said that she had a very clear-cut case of appendicitis. About 30 minutes later, we were taken to surgery where we met her surgeon (who happens to be a mother at Wiesbrook, Brooke's school). By this time, her fever was up to 102 and she was feeling ever worse. Thankfully, by eight that night she was in surgery.

They told us that we caught it about as early as we could have. The surgery was laparoscopic, so they went in through her belly button. She also had two small incisions on either side of her abdomen. She was a little slow the next day and wasn't really able to bend over for several days, but she was back at school on Friday and swimming on Saturday (the surgery was Wednesday night). A day or two after she pretended to be a surgeon with her toys.

People were very generous, stopping by with all kinds of goodies for her (and the other two). Here she is with a purse from the Wellers.

It was a crazy evening, but it made us so thankful to God for our access to amazing healthcare, as well as the fact that this has been our scariest emergency so far.