July 2, 2017 started out like any other Sunday morning. We got up, got ready for church, and headed out the door. During Sacrament meeting, Claire was a little more cuddly than usual. She often would sit in my lap during that time, but this particular Sunday she laid her head down on my shoulder, which was somewhat atypical, but not enough to notice anything was unusual at that moment.
After church, Claire and I took a nap together. She didn't really eat anything that day, she had a low-grade fever, and seemed like she was possible coming down with a virus, but we were expecting the Dickmans that evening and I didn't want to cancel on them for just a simple virus, so I gave her some Tylenol and she seemed to pep back up. At least, she pepped up enough to enjoy playing with her friends for the evening.
When it was time for bed, she complained that her tummy hurt. I put her to bed with Sam, as was typical. But what wasn't typical was that not long into her sleep, she awoke crying because he was too close to her. So, I moved her to my bed. As we were getting ready for bed, Paul mentioned being a little concerned that it was her appendix because she had mentioned that the right side of her abdomen hurt. I got a rough night's sleep because she was VERY clingy and hot, but I just cuddled her all night long because she needed it. When we woke up the next morning, she climbed out of her and immediately burst into tears, a cry that was quite unusual for her. It was not a loud, shrieky cry; it was a cry that made it very obvious she was very sick. And she immediately laid down on the floor. We still weren't entirely sure what was going on; I still really just assumed she was getting a stomach virus, but as she continued to try to get up and walk, she couldn't do so and it always resulted in terrible crying and laying back down. She had no appetite.
Paul was headed to the YMCA and, on this morning, he for some reason decided, for the first time ever, to ride his bike to the gym. While he was gone, I laid Claire on the couch to let her relax and watch cartoons. I kept asking her where it hurt and she consistently indicated around her belly button and also her right side. After Paul's long bike ride, he decided he didn't want to have to ride the bike back home after working out, so he called me to come pick him up. I left Claire home with the boys while I went to get him. He and I discussed her condition as we drove home and decided that we better take her to the pediatrician to rule out appendicitis. It was still mid-morning and they weren't going to be able to see her until the afternoon, but I still made the appointment. Then, as I googled, I read something that said once symptoms appear, you only have generally about 24 hours before the appendix ruptures, and I always had envisioned that if your appendix ruptures, it's a race against the clock to prevent death, so I got really worried. By this point I was somewhat convinced that we were dealing with appendicitis because she pretty much matched every symptom. She tried so hard to hide how much pain she was in because she did not want to go to the doctor or the hospital, but we decided it was time to head to the ER. Our neighbors, the Dunlaps, offered for the boys to stay at their house, which was such a blessing because I never imagined it would take SO LONG in the ER.
She was really pitiful by the time we arrived at the ER. Little did we know, it was the first day of a new rotation of medical residents. So, for hours, our little room in the ER was a revolving door of residents that kept coming in with no more knowledge than we could have gotten ourselves off of Google and all doing the same things to this poor girl, which always included mashing on her stomach, which was INCREDIBLY painful for her. She was in so much pain that, as they inserted an IV, she didn't whimper or flinch, she just stared at her hand as they did it. One of the first "doctors" said that it was highly unlikely that she had appendicitis because of her age and that it was probably constipation. So he did an xray to rule out some other possibilities such as that. Next she needed to have an ultrasound to check the appendix. Before they sent her to radiology, they wanted her to use the restroom. By this point, she could not stand or provide any assistance in going to the bathroom, so I had to carry her and have Paul's help getting her pants down without letting her legs touch the ground and put pressure on her abdomen. However, putting pressure on her was impossible to avoid while carrying her, and she vomited bile all over me. It wasn't a lot, really, because she hadn't eaten much more than a bite or two in more than 24 hours.
When we finally made it up to radiology for the ultrasound, the technician was a gal we were acquainted with from the gym. As she was doing the ultrasound, we asked her about what she was finding. Not allowed to give any diagnosis, we asked "well, are we going to be able to go home?" She said "no, I think you are going to be here for a little while."
After an eternity, they finally got Claire a room on the pediatric floor and we finally saw an actual seasoned surgeon. Much to my surprise, the surgery wasn't going to take place immediately. In fact, they wanted her to receive IV antibiotics overnight to calm the appendix down before operating on her. We called the neighbors to let them know what was going on and to let them know they could bring the boys and their kids to see Claire. While we had been stuck in the ER, they had gone and bought Claire some little gifts to keep her busy during her stay- markers, a drawing pad, cute socks, and other little things. Everyone was happy to see her, but sweet Gabi was really upset to leave Claire so sick in the hospital. They offered to keep the boys overnight, but there was no reason for both of us to try to sleep in the hospital room, so I followed them out to head home to pack an overnight bag. Then Paul and I switched off, he heading home with the boys while spent a restless night with my suffering girl. It was SO hard to watch her in so much pain. She threw up more, was quite feverish by this point, and I had resorted to keeping her in pull ups because she refused to stand up, even to get to the bathroom.
Early the morning of July 4, after Paul arrived back at the hospital, she was wheeled down to surgery. They gave her a stuffed animal and let her watch cartoons on a tablet as they put her to sleep. Then Paul and I anxiously waited for her to get out of surgery. The surgery wasn't terribly long, but it did go over what they said it would be because apparently her appendix was "very angry" and was difficult to remove. We never did get a very clear answer on whether or not it had actually ruptured. I think it had not, but it was so "angry" that it might as well have been ruptured, and the course of treatment was going to require her to receive IV antibiotics in the hospital for several more days. We were not going to make it home for fireworks for the 4th of July, which was rather devastating to her.
Later in the afternoon, the visitors started coming to see Claire. First Scarlett and later Tessa. She was still so miserable and didn't look very good. It made the little girls feel uncomfortable to see her like that.
While Paul and the boys were having a cook out and fireworks at the Dunlaps', Claire and I were dining on hospital food. Claire attempted a nibble, but that was all. She still had absolutely no appetite, not even for ice cream. She fell asleep around 8:00, and I figured she was done for the night, but awoke after a bit of a nap and wanted to find a way to see fireworks. The nurses had given us some tips for finding the best viewing spot- a playroom in another section of the hospital. So they helped me load Claire into a wheelchair, tethered to all her machinery, and I took her to get the best view we could get.
Another sleepless night ensued, and by this point I was exhausted, physically and emotionally, from caring for her and watching her in so much pain. During the night, as the nurse came to check on Claire, she noted that the IV spot had started to swell and needed to be redone. Then, Claire's oxygen levels were low, and they needed to put her on oxygen. I was terrified and very upset. She looked so sick, she was in so much pain, she wasn't breathing deeply enough because it hurt, she wouldn't get up to go to the bathroom. I was so scared she was going to develop pneumonia because she wasn't working her lungs like she needed to. It was a terrible night.
The next day she received more visitors. Sam, Nate, Gabi, and Coleman all came back to see her. They got some toys from the playroom and played with her. She perked up a bit from their visit. Brynn came to see her, as did a therapy dog.
I needed a break. I couldn't see her in pain and force her to do hard things, like standing up to go potty. She needed to do it. She needed to be pushed, but I couldn't make her cry. And I was tired. And it was scary to me to watch her suffer. So, Paul took a shift and I went home with the boys to get a reprieve. While I was gone, Paul took her on a wheelchair ride down to the gift shop and to the hospital restaurants. He treated her to Icedream at Chick Fil A, which she ate no more than a bite of, and she picked out her first pair of dangly ear rings at the gift shop. I probably would have let her pick out the world at that point as well. Papa and Mema also came to visit.
Paul's turn with Claire seemed to really be beneficial. She seemed to have turned a corner when I came back the next morning. She had more visitors, who all brought her gifts. She received another visit from a therapy dog. And the amazing Child Life Specialist put together a scavenger hunt for her around the hospital to get her up on her feet. She knew Claire loves kitties, so she hid pictures of kitties with little prizes all over the hospital. At the time, Claire's friends, the Dyrhaugs, were visiting, so Mylee and Camille went with her on her scavenger hunt.
Her favorite Primary teacher, Sister Tripp, came and so did the Rohms, who went to the big playroom with her. She was still spending lots of time resting, but she was doing much better and we were getting anxious to go home.
The Child Life Specialist was really wonderful. She made sure Claire had things to make sure happy. Not only did she put together the scavenger hunt, but she made the arrangements for the dogs to visit. She also brought Claire craft supplies and arranged for Claire to be able to paint a ceiling tile that hangs in the hallway outside the patient rooms, a privilege usually reserved for much longer term patients. For some reason, Claire was determined to get a hair cover and slippers from the OR, and the Child Life Specialist made she she got those as well. She was a real bright part of Claire's stay.
Finally, on July 8, after 5 days in the hospital, Claire was finally released. She still wasn't 100%, she was still running a fever, she still had a very low appetite, and she was very thin. But she walked out of that hospital.
A couple days later, she was still experiencing tenderness in her abdomen and she was still struggling to keep her fever gone. I was nervous that she had developed an infection, which was a risk, hence the lengthened hospital stay for IV antibiotics. So, I called her surgeon and he had me bring her in. He didn't see any red flags and said it was to be expected for her to continue to have some soreness and fever because of the condition of her appendix when it was removed. It took her a while to get over her medical episode but we took good care of her while she recovered.
