We're down one appendix

After we had enjoyed the initial delights of America and Brett and I had done some traveling in the Midwest, we thought it worthwhile to explore the American health system a bit. 

Remember the Defy Gravity pictures from the blog post before? The morning after Dawson was climbing the warped wall he woke up complaining of lower abdominal pain. It was supposed to be our last day of school. I let him rest as I tried to finish up with the others. The morning didn't go well (I'll spare you those details) and I actually left to return books we had borrowed. When I came home at noon, Dawson looked worse. Brett said he was concerned about appendicitis. We decided to watch him throughout the day. He didn't eat all day and had a mild fever. His pain was localized to the middle of his lower abdomen (classic appendicitis' pain is lower right). We examined him all throughout the day and decided it best to wait, assuming he the pain would progress if it really was an appendicitis. He seemed to rally some at night and even ate dinner. 

He slept in his room (downstairs) but I left him with a phone in case he needed me in the night. I got a call around 1:30 am. His pain was increasing and he had a hard time moving. He complained of the pain in a colicky like manner and tolerated abdominal exams. The next few hours were tough, even at one point Dawson said, "I'd rather die a painless death than deal with this." (He tells me this isn't what he was trying to say. I couldn't figure it out when he said it but I like to tease him about it now). He and I spent the rest of the night downstairs on the couch with a heating pad on his stomach. Around 4 he finally relaxed and we slept until Haven woke at 6. 

When I turned on the light and looked at Dawson, I was taken back but his color. He was a yellowish green. Not a good thing. We had all our children's well checks that morning so it seemed best to go there and be evaluated. Before the nurses understood how sick he was, they tried to do his eye exam and all. He threw up as he stood there and that was the end of that. He laid on the bench in the room the entire time the pediatrician saw the other kids. She even tried to do his well check and talked to him about the changes his body would be going through soon. :)  Poor guy took it all. He handled everything so well. He tolerated the pain incredibly. He was so calm and in a way relaxed that it seemed impossible that he could really have an appendicitis. His physical exam did not give the normal results that you would expect, especially the fact that he could handle people pressing on his abdomen.

 The pediatrician and Brett decided to do labs there at the office. They were very clear that there was an infection. So from there we went to a pediatric radiologist who was able to do an ultrasound.The radiologist pressed so hard and deeply on his abdomen and Dawson just took it. That was actually the one time I really questioned if he had an appendicitis because he should have shown more pain. The ultrasound did show, not only an appendicitis, but a ruptured one at that. They called from there to alert the pediatrician surgeon at Wake Med. So we headed over to the ER for the surgical admission. The pediatric surgeon was there within just a few minutes of our arrival. He was taken to surgery less than 1 1/2 hrs after walking into the doors of the ER. It was amazing. Everything was so smooth.

Right before heading to surgery

 The surgery was less than an hour. We were able to see him shortly after. The hardest part was trying to juggle Haven and my intense desire to be with Dawson. Because Brett and I had traveled just a week or two before, Haven was super clingy to me. After I saw Dawson I had to take Haven home and put her to bed. I returned to spend the night with him because I couldn't imagine not being there. The first night he slept, still drugged from the meds.

The first time the kids saw Dawson after surgery

The next few days were tough. He would have coughing spells but not able to drink water and it would cause so much pain. The second night he hardly slept at all as his mouth was so dry because he still had not been able to even have ice chips. The next morning was glorious when they finally put him on a liquid diet. There were some smiles during the days, like when packages arrived and the first time he had a popsicle.

Haven enjoyed playing all around the hospital. :)

Haven had a bad cold and ear infection during this time. One morning I went home for a little bit to rest (ha ha) and ended up on the couch with her sleeping for a couple hours after her screaming for a long time without being consoled. Even though it was a bit hard to give more as I was already so tired, it was sweet to get special time with her when I wasn't around much.

Everyday the kids would come and visit and they would wave at Dawson who would be standing in the window. He is in the second window from the right with the green shade open. 

After several days inside, he was happy to take a stroll in the wheelchair to the courtyard.

The first morning of all the kids at home again was so very nice. Everyone was happy.

Because he still required a lot of attention and medicine in the first few nights home, he slept with me. I really enjoyed our time together, even if it was often during the middle of the night.

I was surprised by how hard the recovery of a ruptured appendix was. Dawson lost 9 lbs (10% of his body weight). He really went a solid week without eating much of anything at all. It really took a solid month before he was back to his normal self and even longer for him to regain the weight. He did enjoy the free pass to eat whatever, whenever he wanted. He ate more ice cream in those first weeks than he has in all the months since. :)

I know people wonder why we didn't take him in to the doctor sooner. Honestly, we've battled the question ourselves as our first impressions were an appendicitis. Usually the pain would increase and the diagnosis would be clearer. I'm not sure the ER would have even taken us seriously if we had gone in the first morning after only a few hours of symptoms. We were at the doctor 26 hrs after the start of symptoms so it really happened quickly. But we really saw how the Lord guided the situation, even with the rupture, in the way in happened. Had we gone in the night when he was in the most pain, it would have been very stressful and scary for the kids to wake up to their brother gone to the hospital. It was hard enough for them to have him gone for those 4 days. We also would have had to wait for hours. We met people in the hospital who had arrived in the late evening into the ER and didn't have surgery until the next day. They just had to wait and wait. We literally didn't have to time to settle at the hospital before he was in surgery. It was just so quick and went so smoothly. The way he was admitted allowed us to get the other kids settled and taken care of before our focus was just on Dawson. We learned that those who have a fecalith (google it), which Dawson had, are more likely to rupture and it happens very quickly. I guess we learned to react quicker if one of the other kids starts having similar symptoms. :) We were encouraged that both the surgeon who operated on Dawson and the chief of pediatrics at UNC didn't catch their own children's appendicitis before they ruptured. :) At least we were in good company.

One thing I definitely learned was that if Dawson complains of pain, I have to take it seriously. I was amazed at his ability to withstand the pain and the courage he showed in the situation. I was so proud of him. We are grateful that we were in the States when this happened. We are grateful for the relatively easy process it was to have his appendix removed. We are grateful for all of those who helped the family during that time, especially my mom, who held down the fort while we were with Dawson.

One side note- Kenan and Silas truly seemed lost without their brother around. It was sweet to see how much they missed him and wanted to family back together. They did enjoy a sleepover at a friend's house and told the parents, "We get to be wild since Dawson isn't here to tell us to behave.":) Love those boys.