Connor: "Let's pretend these blocks are chocolates raining down from the sky."
Standing on the children's work bench downstairs, he dumps a bucket of blocks on the floor.
Mommy: "Let's pretend that you picked up all of those blocks."
Connor (quite offended): "That's not pretending!"
That's the idea!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
New Toys
A friend of ours was having a garage sale so we went over and helped get it set up...taking away some of her prime merchandise in the process. My kids now have a full battalion of little green army men, two more care bears, and a Superman action figure.
I am thoroughly enjoying the way they are choosing to play with these...
The first night they played with the army men, they lined them up into two different armies. One of the army men is about twice the size of the rest (a paratrooper)....he became Goliath. I heard such things as "What am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" and watched as the little white soldier battled the giant green soldier, pretending to throw a rock...and then chop off his head with the bayonet. (Daddy's favorite part of that story is when David takes Goliath's sword and decapitates him...he's very animated when he's telling it...)
This morning Superman and Funshine Bear joined us at the breakfast table. As I was making their oatmeal, I heard Honor and Connor:
"What is the secret to your great strength?"
"If you tie me up, I'll be as weak as any man."
"Sampson, the Philistines are coming!"
"Agh! I beat you!"
...
"What is the secret of your great strength?"
"If you cut off my hair, I'll be as weak as any man."
"snip, snip, snip... Sampson, the Philistines are coming!"
"Awww...I'm tied up...but they forgot to cut off all my hair. There is still a little bit left. I beat you!"
"That's not the way it goes!!!"
Yes, but Superman is "super" so you have to add that into account...
I am thoroughly enjoying the way they are choosing to play with these...
The first night they played with the army men, they lined them up into two different armies. One of the army men is about twice the size of the rest (a paratrooper)....he became Goliath. I heard such things as "What am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" and watched as the little white soldier battled the giant green soldier, pretending to throw a rock...and then chop off his head with the bayonet. (Daddy's favorite part of that story is when David takes Goliath's sword and decapitates him...he's very animated when he's telling it...)
This morning Superman and Funshine Bear joined us at the breakfast table. As I was making their oatmeal, I heard Honor and Connor:
"What is the secret to your great strength?"
"If you tie me up, I'll be as weak as any man."
"Sampson, the Philistines are coming!"
"Agh! I beat you!"
...
"What is the secret of your great strength?"
"If you cut off my hair, I'll be as weak as any man."
"snip, snip, snip... Sampson, the Philistines are coming!"
"Awww...I'm tied up...but they forgot to cut off all my hair. There is still a little bit left. I beat you!"
"That's not the way it goes!!!"
Yes, but Superman is "super" so you have to add that into account...
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Samuel's Interpretation
I often use natural consequences in my lesson plans. If a child jumps off the picnic table after I've told him over and over again that he could get hurt jumping off the picnic table, and lo and behold he falls on a rock and gets a bruise, after comforting him I might say something like, "see...that's why Mommy has told you over and over again not to jump off the table. I didn't want you to get hurt."
The kids often mimic my mini-lessons amongst themselves. If Connor throws a block in the air and it hits Ariana on its way back down, Honor might say, "See, that's why we don't throw anything but balls...people get hurt."
Samuel hears these over and over again, and today he made up his own. Honor was busy picking up her siblings. She picked up Connor first and everything was okay. Then she picked up Ariana...and dropped her. Ariana was fine, but Samuel immediately piped up with:
Exactly, Son.
The kids often mimic my mini-lessons amongst themselves. If Connor throws a block in the air and it hits Ariana on its way back down, Honor might say, "See, that's why we don't throw anything but balls...people get hurt."
Samuel hears these over and over again, and today he made up his own. Honor was busy picking up her siblings. She picked up Connor first and everything was okay. Then she picked up Ariana...and dropped her. Ariana was fine, but Samuel immediately piped up with:
"See, that's why we need to wear our Superman capes if we are going to fly
or we might fall down."
or we might fall down."
Exactly, Son.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things
We had some guests over for dinner tonight so I had Daddy grill some pork chops. Samuel saw Daddy taking the chops off the grill and remarked:
"Steak! I LOVE steak!...
Next time make pizza."
At least he knows what he likes...
"Steak! I LOVE steak!...
Next time make pizza."
At least he knows what he likes...
Sunday, April 10, 2011
They Just LOVE Her
Apparently, my children are the only children who enjoy going to the hospital...or at least it must be a rare thing. All I know is that the nurses that worked on Ariana's floor absolutely loved her and she stood out in their minds as a happy child.
Yesterday we got a call from the hospital checking in to see how she is doing.
"Hi, I'm Jada. I work on the floor where Ariana stayed while she was here. I'm just doing a routine check to see how she's doing and to see if you have any questions about anything."
"She's doing great! We didn't even fill her pain medicine prescription and I think the only reason she wants her Motrin at all is because she likes the taste...she never mentions being in any pain or acts like she is in any pain at all."
"That's wonderful. Wait. I think I remember her. She was the little girl with long, dark blond hair, right? She is so cute."
I have no idea who this Jada person is, but apparently Ariana made an impression.
Moral of the story: next time you are in the hospital, act like you are not in any pain at all and plaster a huge, cute smile on your face and you will be loved by all you meet...or at least you will confound all their expectations.
Yesterday we got a call from the hospital checking in to see how she is doing.
"Hi, I'm Jada. I work on the floor where Ariana stayed while she was here. I'm just doing a routine check to see how she's doing and to see if you have any questions about anything."
"She's doing great! We didn't even fill her pain medicine prescription and I think the only reason she wants her Motrin at all is because she likes the taste...she never mentions being in any pain or acts like she is in any pain at all."
"That's wonderful. Wait. I think I remember her. She was the little girl with long, dark blond hair, right? She is so cute."
I have no idea who this Jada person is, but apparently Ariana made an impression.
Moral of the story: next time you are in the hospital, act like you are not in any pain at all and plaster a huge, cute smile on your face and you will be loved by all you meet...or at least you will confound all their expectations.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Yes, He's Homeschooled...
Samuel got to help me with lunch today.
"Samuel, put 5 crackers on each plate."
"Okay!"
Muttering to himself...
"One, two, Five... Two, Five... Two and Five make green..."
That's the kind of homeschooling we do here...
"Samuel, put 5 crackers on each plate."
"Okay!"
Muttering to himself...
"One, two, Five... Two, Five... Two and Five make green..."
That's the kind of homeschooling we do here...
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Stomach Pains Part III
(So...here are Part I and Part II in case you missed them and don't want to scroll down...)
After a glorious 2 hour nap, a knock at the door alerts us to the presence of the Physician's Assistant at 7 a.m. "Hi! How are you feeling this morning?"
"Good!" announces Ariana. Can't she at least pretend to be sick?
"Oh, well, see these little faces on the wall here? On a scale of 0-5--0 being the happy face, 5 being the crying face--which face looks the closest to how you're feeling?"
"Ummm... One."
The P.A. looks taken aback. "Okay. Well, let's just take a look here. Does it hurt when I press here?"
"hee hee hee....that tickles!"
"How about here?"
"That tickles too!"
"And here?"
"Um...that hurts a little bit."
The P.A. looks at me. "Is this fairly normal for her? How did you know she was sick?"
I shrug my shoulders and relay Part I. "It was really the not eating that was the biggest sign. Ariana is a pretty good eater."
She nods. "Well, she has tenderness in the right spot. Even though she says it only hurts a little bit, she's definitely guarding it and you can't fake the flinching. The CT scan was a little funny though. I'm going to show it to the doctor and see what he thinks. If he thinks it is appendicitis, we'll schedule a surgery for around noon."
"They're not going to run any more tests?" I ask, certain they would want a clearer image before making that big of a decision.
"Nope. If it is appendicitis, she should be in a lot more pain by noon." This comforting thought is delivered as she leaves the room.
Ten minutes later, the P.A. returns. "The doctor looked at the CT scan and is sure it is appendicitis. So the appendix will be removed. Because we caught it early, we will be able to do a simple laparoscopic procedure and shouldn't need to open her up. We'll come to get you around 11:30--no eating or drinking anything until then."
Okay.
For the next 4 hours, I attempt to keep my excited daughter entertained. She is hooked up to an IV so every time she gets out of bed, I am forced to follow her around with a giant pole. We walk up and down the floor, watch Tinker Bell...twice. Play cards. Color. Cuddle. Periodically the nurse comes in and asks if Ariana is in any pain. "Nope!" she replies.
Silly girl.
A wonderful friend from church shows up to sit with me during the surgery. Ariana is tickled pink by the visitor....especially since she comes bearing gifts--a new board book. I'm not nervous at all. I've been through two other children's surgeries: Honor and Samuel. This surgery is fairly routine since we caught it early. Not that I'm happy that she is getting anything removed, but I am happy we caught it early. The surgeon performs this surgery on an almost daily basis and the anesthesiologist has anesthetized thousands of patients. I know she is in good hands.
After they take her back, Mrs. B. and I get some lunch and wait in the waiting room. It is a good time for reflection on God's goodness and mercy. We talk about Samuel's surgery and the lessons learned there. We talk about the adoption and the lessons we learned there. And she shares her own personal story of growth.
45 minutes later, the surgeon returns. "We definitely made the right decision." He hands me a picture of Ariana's insides and begins pointing. "This is the appendix. It is definitely infected. It should not be this thick or red. We removed the appendix and this is where the stitches are. These will be absorbed by her body. We made three little incisions--the biggest in her belly button--and those should heal up nicely without any scars. We put steri-strips on those. Unless there is a problem, you shouldn't need to make a follow-up visit. We will keep her overnight for observation, but I don't anticipate there being any problems."
Five minutes later we are brought back to her post-op room where we try to get her to wake up and drink. We are told it will be a couple of hours. Ariana was awake and in her regular room by the end of the hour. Unfortunately, she is finally in some sort of pain. Poor baby.
She perks up when Daddy comes to visit. And then again when Pastor comes to visit. By bedtime her pain is manageable. We sleep fairly well, barely waking up when the nurses check on her every two hours.
In the morning, Ariana is back to her cheerful self. By 10 a.m., the nurses remove her IV stand, but keep the ports in to give her medicine. We are able to go down to "music time" in one of the play rooms. She orders a huge lunch...and eats all of it, leaving me only the crackers and string cheese from the floor's pantry (I refuse to leave my child in a hospital room unattended for more than a minute--even if a nurse will come and sit with her...). The Child Life Specialist brings her tons of activities--that involve assembly from Mommy. We blow bubbles. We walk around the floor...a lot. Ariana "flirts" with all the nurses--receiving many gifts in the process. We watch "Shrek 4", "How to Train a Dragon" and begin "Toy Story 3".
Finally, the P.A. comes to check on her around 2 pm. "She looks good. I'll get the discharge paperwork ready."
On our way out the door, Ariana gives a big hug to one of the student nurses. I am pretty sure the nurse is close to tears. She asks if she can walk us to our car. She really acts like she is going to miss Ariana. She asks if there is anything she could help us with, if we have a ride and how far away we live. That's when I start getting a little creeped out...after all, she's only known us for a day...and she wasn't even Ariana's nurse! But I can tell she is only trying to be nice. She really likes Ariana.
And now we are home. It is very difficult to keep Ariana from roughhousing--her only real restriction. Her tummy hurts more than it did on Sunday, but we are thankful that the pain will be going away and not increasing.
God truly gave us His protection. With such a high pain tolerance, the ONLY reason we caught the appendicitis when we did was because HE allowed it. God is so good!
And we are so blessed!
After a glorious 2 hour nap, a knock at the door alerts us to the presence of the Physician's Assistant at 7 a.m. "Hi! How are you feeling this morning?"
"Good!" announces Ariana. Can't she at least pretend to be sick?
"Oh, well, see these little faces on the wall here? On a scale of 0-5--0 being the happy face, 5 being the crying face--which face looks the closest to how you're feeling?"
"Ummm... One."
The P.A. looks taken aback. "Okay. Well, let's just take a look here. Does it hurt when I press here?"
"hee hee hee....that tickles!"
"How about here?"
"That tickles too!"
"And here?"
"Um...that hurts a little bit."
The P.A. looks at me. "Is this fairly normal for her? How did you know she was sick?"
I shrug my shoulders and relay Part I. "It was really the not eating that was the biggest sign. Ariana is a pretty good eater."
She nods. "Well, she has tenderness in the right spot. Even though she says it only hurts a little bit, she's definitely guarding it and you can't fake the flinching. The CT scan was a little funny though. I'm going to show it to the doctor and see what he thinks. If he thinks it is appendicitis, we'll schedule a surgery for around noon."
"They're not going to run any more tests?" I ask, certain they would want a clearer image before making that big of a decision.
"Nope. If it is appendicitis, she should be in a lot more pain by noon." This comforting thought is delivered as she leaves the room.
Ten minutes later, the P.A. returns. "The doctor looked at the CT scan and is sure it is appendicitis. So the appendix will be removed. Because we caught it early, we will be able to do a simple laparoscopic procedure and shouldn't need to open her up. We'll come to get you around 11:30--no eating or drinking anything until then."
Okay.
For the next 4 hours, I attempt to keep my excited daughter entertained. She is hooked up to an IV so every time she gets out of bed, I am forced to follow her around with a giant pole. We walk up and down the floor, watch Tinker Bell...twice. Play cards. Color. Cuddle. Periodically the nurse comes in and asks if Ariana is in any pain. "Nope!" she replies.
Silly girl.
A wonderful friend from church shows up to sit with me during the surgery. Ariana is tickled pink by the visitor....especially since she comes bearing gifts--a new board book. I'm not nervous at all. I've been through two other children's surgeries: Honor and Samuel. This surgery is fairly routine since we caught it early. Not that I'm happy that she is getting anything removed, but I am happy we caught it early. The surgeon performs this surgery on an almost daily basis and the anesthesiologist has anesthetized thousands of patients. I know she is in good hands.
After they take her back, Mrs. B. and I get some lunch and wait in the waiting room. It is a good time for reflection on God's goodness and mercy. We talk about Samuel's surgery and the lessons learned there. We talk about the adoption and the lessons we learned there. And she shares her own personal story of growth.
45 minutes later, the surgeon returns. "We definitely made the right decision." He hands me a picture of Ariana's insides and begins pointing. "This is the appendix. It is definitely infected. It should not be this thick or red. We removed the appendix and this is where the stitches are. These will be absorbed by her body. We made three little incisions--the biggest in her belly button--and those should heal up nicely without any scars. We put steri-strips on those. Unless there is a problem, you shouldn't need to make a follow-up visit. We will keep her overnight for observation, but I don't anticipate there being any problems."
Five minutes later we are brought back to her post-op room where we try to get her to wake up and drink. We are told it will be a couple of hours. Ariana was awake and in her regular room by the end of the hour. Unfortunately, she is finally in some sort of pain. Poor baby.
She perks up when Daddy comes to visit. And then again when Pastor comes to visit. By bedtime her pain is manageable. We sleep fairly well, barely waking up when the nurses check on her every two hours.
In the morning, Ariana is back to her cheerful self. By 10 a.m., the nurses remove her IV stand, but keep the ports in to give her medicine. We are able to go down to "music time" in one of the play rooms. She orders a huge lunch...and eats all of it, leaving me only the crackers and string cheese from the floor's pantry (I refuse to leave my child in a hospital room unattended for more than a minute--even if a nurse will come and sit with her...). The Child Life Specialist brings her tons of activities--that involve assembly from Mommy. We blow bubbles. We walk around the floor...a lot. Ariana "flirts" with all the nurses--receiving many gifts in the process. We watch "Shrek 4", "How to Train a Dragon" and begin "Toy Story 3".
Finally, the P.A. comes to check on her around 2 pm. "She looks good. I'll get the discharge paperwork ready."
On our way out the door, Ariana gives a big hug to one of the student nurses. I am pretty sure the nurse is close to tears. She asks if she can walk us to our car. She really acts like she is going to miss Ariana. She asks if there is anything she could help us with, if we have a ride and how far away we live. That's when I start getting a little creeped out...after all, she's only known us for a day...and she wasn't even Ariana's nurse! But I can tell she is only trying to be nice. She really likes Ariana.
And now we are home. It is very difficult to keep Ariana from roughhousing--her only real restriction. Her tummy hurts more than it did on Sunday, but we are thankful that the pain will be going away and not increasing.
God truly gave us His protection. With such a high pain tolerance, the ONLY reason we caught the appendicitis when we did was because HE allowed it. God is so good!
And we are so blessed!
Stomach Pains Part II
(Click here for Part I)
By 9:00 pm, we are signing in at the front desk of the ER.
"Mommy, look at that!" "What is that beeping sound?" "Oooh, I get a bracelet?" Ariana was full of cheerful comments as the registration lady took her information.
"I SWEAR she has stomach pain...really." The lady just smiles and sends me to the children's waiting area.
5 minutes later the triage nurse calls us back.
"What are we being seen for today?" The man looks at me patiently as Ariana practically runs to sit in the "special chair" to get her blood pressure taken. He must know I'm overreacting, but I've come this far so I might as well finish it out.
"She has been complaining of stomach pain since about 1:30 this afternoon. I SWEAR. We thought it was just gas, but the pain wouldn't go away with a massage or a warm wash cloth. Since it is her lower right side, I thought we should get her checked out just to be on the safe side...but it's probably just gas."
He nods in understanding as Ariana jumps up to stand on the scale, her eyes twinkling with delight at all the "doctor stuff" she gets to do.
"I SWEAR she has stomach pain...really." He just smiles at me too.
"We'll get her back in the room and have the doctor take a look."
Five minutes later, the doctor arrives.
"Hi!" says Ariana happily.
"Hi!" responds the doctor. "Does your tummy hurt?"
"Just a little bit."
I wanted to shake her.
"I SWEAR she has stomach pain...really." I repeat my scripted line, trying to convince myself that there was actually a reason for coming to the ER.
The doctor smiles at me. "Let's just take a look. Does it hurt here?" she asks, pushing on the upper left side of the abdomen.
"Uh uh."
"Here?"...the lower left side.
"Uh uh."
"Here?"...the upper right side.
"Uh uh."
"Here?"...the lower right side.
Ariana flinches. Grinning she replies, "Yeah...that hurt."
I'm not sure I did a good job of explaining facial expressions to her...
The doctor shrugs her shoulders. "Well, she doesn't seem to be in a lot of pain, but she is flinching in the right spot and the symptoms you describe are textbook for appendicitis. We'll go ahead and stick an IV in to draw some blood, that way if we need to give her anything else, it is already in. With the blood, we will check her electrolyte levels and her white blood cell count. We will also take a urine sample and rule out an infection there--often a bladder infection can mimic the pain for appendicitis. Finally, we'll do an ultrasound and see what we can see internally. Although often the ultrasound misses appendicitis, we'd prefer to wait to do a CT scan unless it is absolutely necessary--we don't like to expose little ones to radiation unless we can help it. We'll get these tests started and go from there."
Ariana isextremely somewhat melodramatic, so I anticipate a little screaming or yanking of arms when it comes time to insert the IV. Preempting such a display, I appeal to her love of the hospital: "Ariana, when they put the IV in, they are going to use a needle like they use for shots. It will probably hurt a little bit, but if you want to stay in the hospital, it is important that you hold very still and stay really calm while they do it...otherwise we'll have to go home."
Ariana's eyes grow wide at the empty threat (I rarely give empty threats so she had no idea...). The nurse comes in a short while later and begins setting up her tray. "Do I need to wrap you up in a blanket like a burrito, or do you think you can hold still?"
Ariana gives the lady a blank stare. I step in. "She'll be fine. Ariana, hold your arm out for the lady. Remember...don't move." Ariana nods sagely and holds her arm out.
The woman attempts to get Ariana to look at me, but Ariana refuses. After digging around for a little while, a second lady gives the IV a shot and blood starts flowing. "Look, Mom! Blood! It's pretty! When I go home, I want to show Honor!" The nurse stares at me in astonishment. Apparently she has never had a five year old hold that still or be that excited over losing their blood.
She doesn't know that hospitals are like amusement parks for my children...
After the ultrasound we have to wait for the lab results. Ariana joyfully sings the "bunny song" over and over again, interspersing it with "Amazing Grace"and nurses continually come in to tell her how cute she is, to which I reply: "I SWEAR she has stomach pain...really." They just smile.
(Is it horrible that I wanted the tests to show an inflamed appendix? I needed some justification for the singing little girl in the ER...)
At about 11:30, all the tests are done and we've been officially registered in the computers. The doctor comes back in. "Okay. Here's the deal. The urine test came back negative--no bladder infection. The ultrasound surprisingly also came back as 'most likely not appendicitis.' But the blood test shows a high white blood cell count...meaning there is definitely an infection. We recommend the CT scan to clarify what the infection is."
"Okay. But if it isn't appendicitis, what else could it be?"
She looks at Ariana, smiling away on her hospital bed, then looks back at me. "With levels that high, and with pain where she has it, it is appendicitis. We're just going to verify it."
(Is it wrong that I smiled at this news? I suppose other moms would be worried. I was just relieved. It was exactly as I suspected...an early diagnosis of appendicitis. Of course I didn't want her to have a surgery, but I was just so glad that God brought us in early enough that it should all be very routine...)
At midnight, the X-Ray tech comes in to give Ariana some contrast for her CT scan. And then we have to wait an hour. I'm tired. I want to sleep. Ariana, however, is wide awake. She continually wakes me up with, "how many more minutes until Matt comes back?"
Shortly after 1 am, she is brought back to the "big doughnut" for her CT scan (Connor thought it looked like a spaceship...guess it shows where their preferences lie...). She holds perfectly still and does an excellent job following instructions.
When the test is over, we are told that it could be up to 2 hours before the test results are in.
Great! A nap!
30 minutes later, the doctor comes in. "Well, the CT scan shows a couple of things. We found a few of the lymph nodes in the abdominal area are swollen. This is a condition called Mesenteric Adenitis and could explain the pain she's been having in her tummy. It is often mistaken for appendicitis as the symptoms are similar. If that was all they found, we would send you home with antibiotics, but there was some thickening of the appendix that was concerning. If she is in the beginning stages of appendicitis, the antibiotics would mask that. We would like to send you over to the children's hospital for observation. If it is appendicitis, the pain should increase substantially in the next 12 hours or so and they will be better able to treat her there. We will set up an ambulance to drive her over because of the IV. Everything should be ready to go in a couple of hours."
Okay. So, maybe appendicitis, maybe not. But all I can think is: Great! A nap!
I do not get a nap.
The ambulance people are already waiting. In less than 30 minutes, we are packing up--Ariana onto the stretcher, me to my car to follow the ambulance for 40 minutes to the other hospital...at 3 am. Did I mention I am tired???
As I walk out of the ER, I hear the nurses call out to the EMTs: "She's a happy one. Maybe she'll sing for you!"
I just roll my eyes.
(Part III)
By 9:00 pm, we are signing in at the front desk of the ER.
"Mommy, look at that!" "What is that beeping sound?" "Oooh, I get a bracelet?" Ariana was full of cheerful comments as the registration lady took her information.
"I SWEAR she has stomach pain...really." The lady just smiles and sends me to the children's waiting area.
5 minutes later the triage nurse calls us back.
"What are we being seen for today?" The man looks at me patiently as Ariana practically runs to sit in the "special chair" to get her blood pressure taken. He must know I'm overreacting, but I've come this far so I might as well finish it out.
"She has been complaining of stomach pain since about 1:30 this afternoon. I SWEAR. We thought it was just gas, but the pain wouldn't go away with a massage or a warm wash cloth. Since it is her lower right side, I thought we should get her checked out just to be on the safe side...but it's probably just gas."
He nods in understanding as Ariana jumps up to stand on the scale, her eyes twinkling with delight at all the "doctor stuff" she gets to do.
"I SWEAR she has stomach pain...really." He just smiles at me too.
"We'll get her back in the room and have the doctor take a look."
Five minutes later, the doctor arrives.
"Hi!" says Ariana happily.
"Hi!" responds the doctor. "Does your tummy hurt?"
"Just a little bit."
I wanted to shake her.
"I SWEAR she has stomach pain...really." I repeat my scripted line, trying to convince myself that there was actually a reason for coming to the ER.
The doctor smiles at me. "Let's just take a look. Does it hurt here?" she asks, pushing on the upper left side of the abdomen.
"Uh uh."
"Here?"...the lower left side.
"Uh uh."
"Here?"...the upper right side.
"Uh uh."
"Here?"...the lower right side.
Ariana flinches. Grinning she replies, "Yeah...that hurt."
I'm not sure I did a good job of explaining facial expressions to her...
The doctor shrugs her shoulders. "Well, she doesn't seem to be in a lot of pain, but she is flinching in the right spot and the symptoms you describe are textbook for appendicitis. We'll go ahead and stick an IV in to draw some blood, that way if we need to give her anything else, it is already in. With the blood, we will check her electrolyte levels and her white blood cell count. We will also take a urine sample and rule out an infection there--often a bladder infection can mimic the pain for appendicitis. Finally, we'll do an ultrasound and see what we can see internally. Although often the ultrasound misses appendicitis, we'd prefer to wait to do a CT scan unless it is absolutely necessary--we don't like to expose little ones to radiation unless we can help it. We'll get these tests started and go from there."
Ariana is
Ariana's eyes grow wide at the empty threat (I rarely give empty threats so she had no idea...). The nurse comes in a short while later and begins setting up her tray. "Do I need to wrap you up in a blanket like a burrito, or do you think you can hold still?"
Ariana gives the lady a blank stare. I step in. "She'll be fine. Ariana, hold your arm out for the lady. Remember...don't move." Ariana nods sagely and holds her arm out.
The woman attempts to get Ariana to look at me, but Ariana refuses. After digging around for a little while, a second lady gives the IV a shot and blood starts flowing. "Look, Mom! Blood! It's pretty! When I go home, I want to show Honor!" The nurse stares at me in astonishment. Apparently she has never had a five year old hold that still or be that excited over losing their blood.
She doesn't know that hospitals are like amusement parks for my children...
After the ultrasound we have to wait for the lab results. Ariana joyfully sings the "bunny song" over and over again, interspersing it with "Amazing Grace"and nurses continually come in to tell her how cute she is, to which I reply: "I SWEAR she has stomach pain...really." They just smile.
(Is it horrible that I wanted the tests to show an inflamed appendix? I needed some justification for the singing little girl in the ER...)
At about 11:30, all the tests are done and we've been officially registered in the computers. The doctor comes back in. "Okay. Here's the deal. The urine test came back negative--no bladder infection. The ultrasound surprisingly also came back as 'most likely not appendicitis.' But the blood test shows a high white blood cell count...meaning there is definitely an infection. We recommend the CT scan to clarify what the infection is."
"Okay. But if it isn't appendicitis, what else could it be?"
She looks at Ariana, smiling away on her hospital bed, then looks back at me. "With levels that high, and with pain where she has it, it is appendicitis. We're just going to verify it."
(Is it wrong that I smiled at this news? I suppose other moms would be worried. I was just relieved. It was exactly as I suspected...an early diagnosis of appendicitis. Of course I didn't want her to have a surgery, but I was just so glad that God brought us in early enough that it should all be very routine...)
At midnight, the X-Ray tech comes in to give Ariana some contrast for her CT scan. And then we have to wait an hour. I'm tired. I want to sleep. Ariana, however, is wide awake. She continually wakes me up with, "how many more minutes until Matt comes back?"
Shortly after 1 am, she is brought back to the "big doughnut" for her CT scan (Connor thought it looked like a spaceship...guess it shows where their preferences lie...). She holds perfectly still and does an excellent job following instructions.
When the test is over, we are told that it could be up to 2 hours before the test results are in.
Great! A nap!
30 minutes later, the doctor comes in. "Well, the CT scan shows a couple of things. We found a few of the lymph nodes in the abdominal area are swollen. This is a condition called Mesenteric Adenitis and could explain the pain she's been having in her tummy. It is often mistaken for appendicitis as the symptoms are similar. If that was all they found, we would send you home with antibiotics, but there was some thickening of the appendix that was concerning. If she is in the beginning stages of appendicitis, the antibiotics would mask that. We would like to send you over to the children's hospital for observation. If it is appendicitis, the pain should increase substantially in the next 12 hours or so and they will be better able to treat her there. We will set up an ambulance to drive her over because of the IV. Everything should be ready to go in a couple of hours."
Okay. So, maybe appendicitis, maybe not. But all I can think is: Great! A nap!
I do not get a nap.
The ambulance people are already waiting. In less than 30 minutes, we are packing up--Ariana onto the stretcher, me to my car to follow the ambulance for 40 minutes to the other hospital...at 3 am. Did I mention I am tired???
As I walk out of the ER, I hear the nurses call out to the EMTs: "She's a happy one. Maybe she'll sing for you!"
I just roll my eyes.
(Part III)
Monday, April 4, 2011
Stomach Pains Part I
*poke*
Sigh. I open my eyes from my nice Sunday afternoon nap to see Ariana's smiling face.
"Mom-my... my tummy hurts."
Yeah right.
"Ariana, do you feel like you are going to throw up?"
"Nooooo."
"Do you have to go potty?"
"Nooooo."
"Then go lie down on the couch if your tummy hurts."
"Okay!"
She practically skips out of the room and I quickly fall back into a blissful rest .
*poke*.... *poke*
Grrr...
"What is it, Ariana?"
Bigger grin. "My tummy hurts. I need to go to the doctor."
I try to remain calm despite my growing headache. "You're not going to throw up?" She shakes her head 'no.' "Ariana, if your tummy hurts so bad, lie down on the couch and drink some water. You don't need to go to the doctor. You'll be fine. Don't wake me up again!"
"Okay," she says happily and leaves the room.
I slept for another hour, then got up and made my way to the living room to do some chores. Ariana hops up and begins following me around the house, hand on her abdomen.
"Ariana, if your belly hurts so much, go lie down!"
"No, Mommy. I want to help you."
I can hardly be blamed for thinking my child was some sort of hypochondriac at this point...an optimistic hypochondriac.
Dinner rolls around and...Ariana falls asleep on the couch. I begin to think something might actually be wrong.
"Honey, dinner is ready. Come eat." Ariana opens her eyes, looks at me, and then goes back to sleep. "Ariana, Honey, I made raviolis and bologna sandwiches and yogurt (all food she loves)...don't you want to come eat?"
She shakes her head in the negative. I begin to be concerned.
Assuming it was gas pains, I place a warm wash cloth on her belly, give her a Rolaids and massage away.
"Ouch!"
"Does it hurt when I touch you here?"
She nods her head vigorously, then goes back to sleep. It is her lower right side of her belly.
I head over to my handy dandy internet and look up gas pain in children. "Gracious, Heavenly Father, please give me wisdom to know exactly what I should do."
Okay, God.
"Honey, I think Ariana might have appendicitis," I say to my husband rather calmly-after all, Ariana is sleeping somewhat peacefully on the couch...doesn't sound like severe pain to me.
"Call the triage nurse." He was a little more panicky.
So, I put the other kids to bed and call the nurse.
"Have her jump up and down. If it is her appendix, she won't want to do it."
Okay. "Ariana, Honey, wake up and jump up and down."
Ariana slowly wakes up and looks at me like I'm crazy. "Come on, jump up and down." She gets up, holds Daddy's hand, and jumps. Once.
"Jump again, Baby."
She refuses.
I inform the nurse that Ariana refuses to jump again, but it could be because she's sleepy. She tells me that since Ariana is sleeping, she is probably okay, but if she is still complaining of pain in the morning, take her to the doctor. If she wakes up screaming, take her to the emergency room.
I hang up feeling a little better, and head back to my handy dandy computer. "God please give us wisdom to know exactly what to do. And please heal Ariana."
I grab the keys, tell Ariana to put some shoes on (which she does with much excitement), and head to the local ER.
Thank you God for speaking so clearly!
(Part II)
Sigh. I open my eyes from my nice Sunday afternoon nap to see Ariana's smiling face.
"Mom-my... my tummy hurts."
Yeah right.
"Ariana, do you feel like you are going to throw up?"
"Nooooo."
"Do you have to go potty?"
"Nooooo."
"Then go lie down on the couch if your tummy hurts."
"Okay!"
She practically skips out of the room and I quickly fall back into a blissful rest .
*poke*.... *poke*
Grrr...
"What is it, Ariana?"
Bigger grin. "My tummy hurts. I need to go to the doctor."
I try to remain calm despite my growing headache. "You're not going to throw up?" She shakes her head 'no.' "Ariana, if your tummy hurts so bad, lie down on the couch and drink some water. You don't need to go to the doctor. You'll be fine. Don't wake me up again!"
"Okay," she says happily and leaves the room.
I slept for another hour, then got up and made my way to the living room to do some chores. Ariana hops up and begins following me around the house, hand on her abdomen.
"Ariana, if your belly hurts so much, go lie down!"
"No, Mommy. I want to help you."
I can hardly be blamed for thinking my child was some sort of hypochondriac at this point...an optimistic hypochondriac.
Dinner rolls around and...Ariana falls asleep on the couch. I begin to think something might actually be wrong.
"Honey, dinner is ready. Come eat." Ariana opens her eyes, looks at me, and then goes back to sleep. "Ariana, Honey, I made raviolis and bologna sandwiches and yogurt (all food she loves)...don't you want to come eat?"
She shakes her head in the negative. I begin to be concerned.
Assuming it was gas pains, I place a warm wash cloth on her belly, give her a Rolaids and massage away.
"Ouch!"
"Does it hurt when I touch you here?"
She nods her head vigorously, then goes back to sleep. It is her lower right side of her belly.
I head over to my handy dandy internet and look up gas pain in children. "Gracious, Heavenly Father, please give me wisdom to know exactly what I should do."
Appendicitis symptoms start as a pain in the belly button and moves to the lower right of the abdomen. Usually there is no accompanying vomiting/diarrhea or fever until after the pain has been there for some time. Not all children with appendicitis show all symptoms. If you suspect your child may have appendicitis, seek medical attention immediately.
Okay, God.
"Honey, I think Ariana might have appendicitis," I say to my husband rather calmly-after all, Ariana is sleeping somewhat peacefully on the couch...doesn't sound like severe pain to me.
"Call the triage nurse." He was a little more panicky.
So, I put the other kids to bed and call the nurse.
"Have her jump up and down. If it is her appendix, she won't want to do it."
Okay. "Ariana, Honey, wake up and jump up and down."
Ariana slowly wakes up and looks at me like I'm crazy. "Come on, jump up and down." She gets up, holds Daddy's hand, and jumps. Once.
"Jump again, Baby."
She refuses.
I inform the nurse that Ariana refuses to jump again, but it could be because she's sleepy. She tells me that since Ariana is sleeping, she is probably okay, but if she is still complaining of pain in the morning, take her to the doctor. If she wakes up screaming, take her to the emergency room.
I hang up feeling a little better, and head back to my handy dandy computer. "God please give us wisdom to know exactly what to do. And please heal Ariana."
Okay, God.
If you take your child in early enough, the recovery time is only a day or two. If you wait and the appendix ruptures, your child will be in there for over a week...
I grab the keys, tell Ariana to put some shoes on (which she does with much excitement), and head to the local ER.
Thank you God for speaking so clearly!
(Part II)
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