Appendicitis?

Addie is finally back at school after an exhausting emotional week. This winter has felt long and our family hasn't caught a break when it comes to sickness within our household. The family experienced that horrible bout of the flu over Christmas and it seems to have returned with a vengeance. It all started about two weeks ago when each one of us got knocked down with the common cold. It literally wiped us all. Everyone had the chills, aches, congestion and felt the miserableness that is of being sick. As soon as we thought we'd be healthy Hudson came down with flu like symptoms. We had to stick him in a diaper to manage to stay afloat of all those missed potty runs. 

Once we thought he was in the clear and recovering it was then Grant who started to get worse and never did fully get over that previous cold. On Monday night of last week I had to make an appointment with his pediatrician's after hours because he was starting to have trouble breathing. He was wheezing and making us think that his cold had turned into the awful RSV. It was heartbreaking how miserable he was. The pediatrician on-call then sent us to the hospital for an x ray on his lungs because he wasn't able to get a good enough read on how his lungs were doing and couldn't rule out RSV just yet. It was a long night. I told the other kids goodnight and took Grant to the hospital for the x ray and the poor babe hated every second of it. I felt so bad having to hold his arms over his head while he just screamed to be done with it all. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to be asleep in my arms. Luckily his oxygen levels weren't concerning and the lab was able to let us go with a promise to call us with the results. I was able to take him home same night which is always a relief because I get flashbacks of when Hudson was a baby and had to stay overnight at the hospital due to his oxygen levels and RSV. The doctor called me before I even reached home and told me that his lungs looked good and that he was clear of RSV and to just watch his airways. I was hoping that Grant would sleep well that night from how tired he was but he didn't. We didn't get much sleep at all. Almost every night last week was a disaster but that will be part of a different post. 

Then Addie was next on the sick train again and her's was the saddest of all. On that same night (Monday) Addie was complaining of not feeling well. Tuesday morning she threw up. She also experienced diarrhea all day long. She had zero appetite and we worried because she couldn't keep anything down. I called her in sick from school that day as well as the next three days. Everyday was the same thing. Lots of diarrhea, throw up and zero eating. Thursday morning was a little different. She had acted miserable and had been whining all the other days but by Thursday morning she was full on screaming. She was screaming that her stomach hurt. She kept pointing to her belly button and while being curled up in a ball. Her screaming did not let up for about two hours. Every ten minutes or so she would quiet down for a little bit but after a minute or two she would be back to screaming. It was scary because she has never done that before. I messaged Danny and told him that she was acting like her appendix was bursting. I sent that without actually thinking that this was what was happening. I was just trying to describe how bad her screaming and reaction was to him. He on the other hand started looking up symptoms. He found that complaining of your belly button hurting, no appetite, fever and diarrhea were all symptoms of your appendix bursting. He called me right away and was able to hear Addie in the background. He asked me to call the doctor's office which I did. The nurses on the phone also were worried because they could also hear Addie in the background and asked if she could be in their office within fifteen minutes. I hung up and called Danny right back to see if he could hurry home from school so that one of us could be with Addie while the other one stayed with the boys. He hurried home and took her to the doctor's office. Addie was so scared to be there. Danny said that she was being a little difficult for the doctor and the staff there but that it was understandable because she was in so much pain. The doctor told Danny that she wanted Addie to be seen at an outpatient building for an immediate ultrasound so they could get a closer look at what was going on but felt that this was a case of appendicitis. Luckily Addie had no appetite which meant that she was considered fasting and would be ready to go in case of surgery. Danny was also told that Addie was extremely dehydrated. Danny took her to the second building to where she'd get her ultrasound done. Before she was seen Addie said she needed to go to the bathroom. Just like the previous three days Addie had really bad diarrhea but this time her pain subsided tremendously. Danny described her as acting like a completely new kid after that bathroom visit. They were called into the ultrasound room and right away the sonographer could see the problem. She pointed out that the appendix looked normal and then showed a scan of Addie's intestines to Danny. Addie was completely blocked up. Even though Addie had practically spent four days in the bathroom at home with how often she had to go her intestines were still so full. The ultrasound showed how bad Addie was even though it was just minutes after she had gone to the bathroom. Danny and I both felt relieved that it wasn't appendicitis and also felt so bad for poor little Addie who was dealing with so much pain. The doctor got in touch with Danny and told him that it was okay for Addie to start eating again (even though Addie still didn't for another three days). The doctor told Danny that she was expecting the worst news possible. She told him that in all her years of experience she has seen kids come in with an already burst appendix who were more calm than Addie was. It turns out that our daughter might be a bit on the dramatic side haha. Of course the doctor didn't say that part though. We're happy that Addie was not in an emergency situation but still sad for her condition nonetheless. 

Asleep before the prayer was even done.

This whole appendix story happened on Thursday afternoon. She didn't feel better until Sunday morning. That's when the fever, diarrhea, nausea and loss of appetite were all gone. It's now Wednesday today and she's back at school and back to her normal self. Grant's cold has now turned into teething so he's dealing with a fever and teeth pain but we're just glad that he's not with the flu. 

The past two weeks around here have been crazy and it's not even over. There's one more person who got ambushed with illness. Danny. It hit him hard and it hit him with fierce as he came down on Saturday with the same thing Addie had. He spent a lot of the weekend in the bathroom as well as throwing up. On Sunday he stayed home with Grant since they were the only ones really sick at that point while I took Addie and Hudson to church. We were hoping that he'd be well by the next day but then on Monday he had to stay home from school because he was so sick he couldn't get out of bed. He was beyond miserable and I felt bad for him. The kids all did really good staying out of our room so that he could get as much rest as possible. He returned to school yesterday but his appetite didn't come back until last night and today he's feeling back to normal. Luckily he was able to recover a lot faster than the kids did. 

I must have an incredible immune system or at least a hidden superhero power because I am not sick. When the flu hit our family very hard during Christmas break I was the only one to not get sick. I did get sick with the cold but that was the first time I have even felt slightly ill in a very long time. I would even say years. I think I've only felt sick two or three times in our whole marriage and that's counting morning sickness with Addie. Maybe that last sentence isn't very factual I'm not sure but my point is that I don't get sick often if hardly ever which is why I probably felt extra miserable when the cold first hit our family about two weeks ago. I'm going to continue to feel grateful to not be as sick as Danny, Addie, Hudson and Grant have all felt. There are some downsides of remaining healthy though which is that I've had to be the strong one around here and take care of everybody. It's my job and I'll do it but sometimes it can get exhausting haha. I love my family though and I'm just glad that the worst seems to be over.