Appendix Drama

On Thursday night (7/25/15) we found ourselves in the hospital with Myles. That afternoon he started complaining that his stomach hurt. Eventually he was in so much pain he couldn't walk and was just moaning and groaning. He said he had a sharp pain in his lower right quadrant and so I thought he must just have pulled a groin muscle. We went to Candi's apartment complex to meet the family for Daniel's birthday party, and when his grandma and aunts saw Myles and heard where the pain was, they were concerned it might be his appendix. The idea had not even occurred to me, but after looking it up online, I decided it was worth a trip to the doctor. We called the pediatrician who told us to come in right away. He examined Myles and told us to head straight to the hospital for an ultrasound and blood work. When we got to the hospital we had to wait an hour for the ultrasound tech to come in, and in the meantime Myles got his blood drawn. He was so great about it but then a few minutes later he threw up all over me. We were both just wearing our swimsuits and so there I was, covered in vomit, no extra clothes. The nurse brought me a gown, which I had to wear with no bra or underwear until I could get in touch with Marshall to bring me clothes (about 2 hours later). They couldn't even see his appendix on the ultrasound (common with kids), and the blood work came back normal. The doctor called me and said we needed a CT scan and that he was concerned that if we went home before a diagnosis, his appendix could burst. Somehow between the doctor, nurses, and CT technician, the order got mixed up and they did the wrong kind of scan (without contrast instead of with) and again, they couldn't even see his appendix. They could, however, tell that he was pretty constipated. The radiologist was pretty frustrated that the wrong scan was done, and the doctor didn't want them to do another one because of the exposure to radiation, and so after a thorough discussion with the doctor, we decided to take him home, give him lots of laxatives, sleep with him, and then if the pain got worse to bring him back to the hospital for surgery.

I was pretty nervous that night and slept with Myles. Throughout the night I would hear him moaning and groaning in his sleep, but by morning he could stand up pretty much straight and wasn't in as much pain. We took him in to the pediatrician who wanted to see him again, and the pediatrician said that ideally they would do a CT scan with contrast to see if it is his appendix, but because of the mix-up he recommended we just wait it out and see if he continued to get better. When we told him about planning on leaving for Canada the next day, he told us that we should wait through the weekend before leaving and then if he wasn't in pain, we were in the clear. Fortunately Myles continued to get better through the weekend and we left for Canada on Sunday. He is on a steady diet of fruit and laxatives and we are making sure he is getting "cleaned out" regularly. His pediatrician said that sometimes when kids go off their ADHD meds for the summer and start eating more, their bowels take a while to catch up, and we think that is what happened to Myles.

My poor baby waiting for the ultrasound. 

Me in my lovely medical gown. 

Myles getting the ultrasound--pretty painful when they had to push on his stomach. 

Myles' first CT Scan. $4000 and the WRONG ONE!

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