Appendicitis Adventure

Crazy how one little word can bring so much chaos into your life.


It started last Tuesday when Chris text me to bring a mask home because he had the flu. I came home to find him in bed with sore throat, body aches, and a fever of 103. Alarmed because he looked so sick and I wanted to help, but wanted to stay as far away from him as possible at the same time. So I brought him some juice and medicine, than I set up camp in the spare bedroom so I wouldn't be exposed to his germs.


He was sick for the next few days in bed. I have been struggling with migraines as one of the many symptoms I have had during pregnancy, so I wasn't much help as I was recovering from one later that week.

Then Saturday evening Chris complained of abdominal pain. Great I thought. One of the hardest things to diagnose because the majority of your organs are in your abdomen so it could be a lot of things. He said it was in his upper abdomen, midline. I thought... Acid Reflux? He took some tums. Didn't help.


He finally broke down and took a lortab he had left over from his toothache. But, by about 10:30 he was really uncomfortable. So I said... Do we need to go to the Emergency Room? When he said yes, I knew we needed to go. He is the kind of person that avoids hospitals and doctors at all costs.


In the ER they worked him up more for the flu symptoms (Fever, cough) over the abdominal pain, even though that was the whole reason we went to the ER. They gave him some fluids, some pain meds, and some anti nausea meds. He felt a little better and they sent us on our way. We filled a prescription for some pain meds and he took one and went to bed.


We didn't get to bed until about 3am, but by 8 am Chris was in a lot of pain. This time it was more on the right side in the middle. I was a little worried we would go to the ER and the same thing would happen, so I looked at his ER discharge papers and they had recommended a clinic to follow up. I called the clinic and they could get him in at 10:30.


At the Clinic the doctor had examined him and said that she was concerned about appendicitis even though his white blood cell count was normal the night before and that morning. She sent us to LDS hospital for a CT scan of his abdomen to be sure. We could get him scanned faster if we went to LDS, so we were off.


As he drank the contrast his pain got worse and worse. He was only semi OK if he were completely still. As I watched him I just wanted to take it away. I felt awful for him. Finally, as he had tears streaming down his cheeks I wheeled him up to the ER an was like, WE NEED TO GET HIM SOMETHING FOR PAIN ASAP!!!

They took him back and gave him some morphine. He told me it didn't even touch the pain. They scanned him, and as we waited for the result, I started to lose count of the amount of morphine they were giving him. He said it just barely took the edge off.


Then the ER doctor came in and said... "You have appendicitis!" Relief washed over me. I was so thankful that we knew what it was and what can be done to get it fixed. It opened a whole new realization for me about how my patients families feel when they don't have a diagnosis and don't know what to do. I can't imagine. All I knew was there was no way I would leave the hospital with Chris in that much pain.


Chris had his surgery at about 6:00 at night.


He had great doctors and nurses at LDS. But I couldn't leave him in the hospital by himself. I had this gut feeling that he didn't want me to leave him even though I had discussed with him before his surgery that I would go home and get some sleep. So I ended up staying on a little cot. He had to get up to the bathroom a lot with the liters of fluid they had been pumping into him. And he needed pain meds. So we got very little sleep.

By the time he was discharged and we made it home I was on my last string. Not only had I had little to no sleep the past 48 hours, I had sat in the worlds hardest chair for probably about 12 hours. My sciatic nerve was throbbing, my head hurt, I was tired, I hadn't eaten or drank very much.


After I got Chris settled down for a nap and called my mom to come help me, I just lost it. Like mental/emotional/physical breakdown. I was sobbing, which in turn made me incredibly nauseated. Then I proceeded to lose everything I had just forced down. Chris had heard me and was concerned so he was calling me on the phone to check on me. But I thought he needed me so I rushed into our room. He just wanted to give me a hug. I told him I just needed a moment. I was done.


My cute mom came and helped me clean my stinky house and get us settled so I could take a nap. I was so grateful to have her. I just needed some sleep. I took a nap and felt tons better.

So Chris and I have been recuperating this week. Since we were in the hospital at the time that my 19 week Ultrasound was due, we had to reschedule. So baby gets to remain a mystery until October 5th! I CAN'T WAIT much longer!!!

*** P.S. if you haven't voted in the side bar of whether you think We are having a Boy or a Girl... you still can!! Until October 5th!***