When a stomach ache leads to a trip to the emergency room



Photo credit: www.drdansblog.com
 

My teen son complained of a stomach ache from the time he awoke one morning, until I returned home from work early evening. I thought it was a passing virus, but then his temperature spiked and he laid around some more. This was out of the norm for him.

Later, I was in another part of the house when I heard a thumping sound across the floor. I discovered it was my son rushing to the bathroom. When I got there he was gripping the toilet bowl and making straining sounds to get something to come out of his mouth.

After a few moments, he slumped in relief then went back to bed. I was able to get his temperature down and let him sleep through the night. The next morning I made an appointment with his doctor.

The doctor didn’t see anything definite, but felt the problem was with my sons’ appendix. The doctor sent him to the emergency room for further testing. After an overnight stay in the emergency room, my son was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of appendicitis.

More hours of waiting before we learned the appendix was not ruptured and therefore surgery could be performed. I really liked the simple explanations the doctor provided for us along the way. He told my son his appendix was really “yucky.” I’m sure there was a longer medical phrase that could have been used, but “yucky” worked for me.

The day after surgery the doctor asked my son, “Did you fart yet?” I chuckled to myself at the simplicity of the question. But I understood the reason for the question, my son had to “poop” to make sure his body was functioning the way it should.

As the doctor explained to my son how he should care for the area around his incisions, I also listened intently. He said, “You have stiches on the inside, but we used glue on the outer area of the incisions.” My first thought was, “Did you use Gold Bond? Is it super glue?”

Overall I was pleased with the care my son received during his few days at the hospital. The surgery went well and did not require a lot of cutting as I anticipated, only a three small holes. You gotta love modern technology.

So what did I learn from this experience?

1.      I’m glad I know my son’s habits pretty well and followed my instinct to call the doctor.

2.      Hospital food is not all bad (at least when you’re not the patient). I had a great salad from the cafeteria a couple of times.

3.      Being sick is a humbling experience. Even though my son said I could go home, I think he was glad I was there. Especially when he awoke in the middle of the night and asked me to hand him the remote to the TV. I had fallen asleep with it near me on the sofa bed.

4.      Prayer is a good thing.

Have you experienced any emergency room/hospital situations with your child? How did you get thought it?