RUPTURED APPENDIX

Annie surgery was June 11th.  On June 10th, I woke Jake up for church and he informed me his stomach hurt. This isn't uncommon on a morning when Jake doesn't want to get out of bed and I didn't think much of it until we got to church and the poor little guy was green.  Annie's fear of vomit is debilitating and I really didn't want to upset her the day before surgery, so I tried to sneak Jake out of church to go home and stay with Heather.  Annie totally busted us as we tried to quitely make the escape from church.

Once home from church Jake did fairly well, but around 11:30 he started to throw up.  All of Sunday was spent throwing up.  It was about every twenty minutes, and Jake's only complaint was that he could not get comfortable. 

Mid afternoonTravis took Annie to Grandma and Grandpas so she could be away from the vomit.  Grandma brought her back just before bedtime and stayed the night so she could be with the other kids while Travis and I took Annie in for her operation.

Jake threw up until about 12:30 in the morning, and then once again in the night.  Around 8:00 Monday morning he was awake and Travis and I tried to give him some breakfast.  He wasn't interested and complained of his stomach being sore.  I explained that he had thrown up so much that his stomach muscles would probably be sore for a couple of days.  He had a sip of gatorade and a bite or two of chicken noodle soup.  With that, Travis and I were off to the surgery center with Annie.

From the surgery center I called to check in on Jake.  Thinking that he had the 24 hour flu, I was waiting for the report that our little guy was on the mend.  The report never came.  He seemed to be throwing up less, but was still very uncomfortable.  He compained that his right hip hurt, and asked Grandma if she thought he had cancer.

At 12:20 Travis, Annie, and I were in the car done with surgery and headed for home.  I called Grandma and the report on Jake was the same.  I hung up the phone with Grandma and Travis and I had a moment where we both knew Jake needed to get to the doctor.  We felt the urgency and our thankful to a loving Heavenly Father who was guiding us.

I called our pediatrician and of course he was in Chicago.  I called the doctor was was filling in and he saw the receptionist taking my message and instructed us to go immediately to the ER. 

Grandma sent the twins to Garretts.  Emma was already playing at her best friend Emma's house.  She loaded up Jake and we met halfway between Boise and our house at the movie theatre parking lot.  We switched cars and kids.  Poor Annie was still in a groggy post anesthesia state and was so confused as to what was going on.

Once in the Meridian ER, Jake was tested for all kinds of problems, but appendicitis was the most likely suspect.  He was so sick.  In the ER he had two episodes of intense pain.  Shortly after the episodes Jake's temperature started to rise.  It seemed to take hours to get an IV going for him so he could have some morphine and some relief.  The bloodwork showed Jake's white blood cell count to be more than double what it should have been.  All the tests ruled out other problems, and he was diagnosed with appendicitis.

The pediatric surgical group prefers to do all there surgeries at the St. Lukes downtown Boise.  An ambulance was called and we were moved from Meridian to Boise.

Jake perked up a little when he got to ride in the ambulance.  He was thrilled it was a Chevy, but very unlike himself he had no questions about how everything worked and did't carry on a lengthy conversation with the paramedic.

Once we were in Boise, we met with the surgeon who indicated his opinion was that Jake's appendix had ruptures.  He told us they would be going in laproscopically and that the surgery would take about 45 minutes.  As it turned out the surgery took about 20 minutes and the doctor was correct, the appendix had ruptured.  They cleaned and washed Jake's abdomen in surgery to rid it of the poison that had been introduced because of the rupture.  The appendix was taken out through a small incision in the belly button.  By 10:00, we were back in the room with Jake. 

Travis really struggled through the process.  It is hard to see any of our children sick, but when Jake is sick it is especially alarming.  He has so much wind in his sails, and when that wind is gone, there really are no words to describe it.  Poor Travis cried quietly for hours, and there was no question he would be the parent to stay by Jake's side through the night after surgery.

Jake was severly dehydrated and full of infection.  Bless Annie's heart she was up early Tuesday morning so she could be with me.  We had our two surdical patients side by side.

I know how important it is to get up and walk after surgery.  However, it was sure hard to insist Jake go for his allotted 6 to 8 walks every day.  The grimace of pain on his face was almost unbarable.

After about 10 feet of a slow and hunched over walk, Jake had earned a wagon ride back to his room.  This was the case for four days.  The infection took its toll on Jake's right leg.  It would not cooperate with his mind.  He often had to pick up that darn leg with his hands in order to get it to move.

Keeping Jake's oxygen saturation at normal levels proved to be difficult and he would have to where oxygen in his nose.  Thankfully he didn't mind at all and after we were back from our walks he woudl ask to put it back on.

By day four, Jake was walking much better and could hold on to the wheelchair and keep his body straight up.

We were so thankful for the play room at St. Lukes.  Jake didn't have the energy to play, but he had the desire to play.

Travis and Annie trying to recover.

Jake loved visits.  He was eager for anyone and everyone to come see him.  He never had much to say, but would sure perk up with company.  On Tuesday night St. Lukes has volunteer dogs that come in to visit the patients.  I think it was the visit from this sweet dog that made Jake begin to feel homesick.  He missed the dogs, he missed home, and he missed being healthy.  It was heartbreaking each night to leave and have him tell me he just wanted to come home.

Another difficulty was getting Jake to eat.  About day 3 he was having cravings and the first craving was mustard!  I quickly ordered him up a corn dog.  I have never been more excited to see Jake eat half a corn dog!

The toy room was amazing.  One corner is set up so that the patients can reinact the medical care they are being given.  It was visably theraputic.

While Jake was doctoring Annie in the toy room, a staff member came in to see if Jake and Annie would like some stuffed bears that had been donated.  Of course!  Then, she asked me if they could film Jake and Annie being given the bears.  Um...sure?  In walked channel 2 and channel 6 news!  We were all filmed and photogrpahed and Jake and I were interviewed and on the news.  Oh dear!