Maggie's surgery

After having a terrible stomach ache for two days (and a fever, and throwing up 20+ times, and fatigue, and no appetite...), I finally took Maggie to the ER this week where she was diagnosed with appendicitis!  My poor, poor girl had to have surgery!  She was so brave with her overnight hospital stay and is finally starting to feel a little better today.  I didn't realize that the recovery would be so awful for her (I thought it would be like 2 days--duh): she can't lift heavy things or exert herself for the next 3-4 weeks!  No recess when she returns to school, no P.E., no ballet class...  She has been a trooper.  And, I am so grateful for the sweet people in the world who donate items to hospitals to give to sick kids.  Maggie came home with all kinds of fun stuff: two fleece blankets, flannel jammy pants, a new pillowcase, a couple of new dolls, plus coloring supplies and play dough and other do-dads.  Early birthday presents!

It was tricky to get her diagnosed.  I was reading stuff online before I took her in, and it said appendicitis symptoms in kids can vary greatly, that there are lots of other things that can cause bad tummy aches, and that appendicitis is much more common in children over 10 than under 10.  She did seem to be able to localize the pain to her lower right abdomen, and I asked her several different times to make sure she was consistent in telling me where it hurt.  I didn't know if I was being overly cautious by taking her in to the ER; however, I had to be quite pushy as a parent to have the urgent care doctor (I took her to the Urgent Care next door to the hospital before taking her to the ER) and the ER nurse that checked her in to take me seriously!  The urgent care doctor was just certain it was just a stomach bug ("most stomach viruses last 7-10 days"--whatever) and I had to actually ask her to push on Maggie's stomach to have Maggie tell her where it hurt.  Then she was like, "Oh, the pain seems to be localized in the lower right abdomen!" and sent us over to the ER next door.

The ER nurse that first talked to us said, "Maggie, why are you here today?"  "My tummy hurts."  "Have you gone poop today?" "No."  "Did you go poop yesterday?"  "No."  Then she turns to me and says, "Maggie is probably just constipated."  WITHOUT ASKING ME ANY MORE QUESTIONS LIKE IF SHE HAD ANY OTHER SYMPTOMS!  Then I had to say, "No, Maggie has had a fever, been vomiting, and has had no appetite...oh, yeah, and if you push on her stomach she will tell you exactly where it hurts!!!!"  Well, I wasn't that rude and forceful.  Ha ha.  Then after several hours of other tests, including an ultrasound where her appendix was HUGE, she finally had her surgery.  I must admit that I felt vindicated, like my mother's instinct was correct!!!!

Here's to my sweet, brave girl.  I love you.