It all started with Elli waking me up at 4:41am telling me her stomach hurt. I got up with her and waited for the throwing up to start. We thought she had the flu or maybe an upset stomach from taking her meds on an empty stomach. Well, we waited and waited for the vomitting to start and about 40 minutes later she had a couple gags but nothing. So for the next hour and a half she just kept squirming on the floor trying to find a comfortable position. Finally, I convinced her to lay in my bed and she dozed for about 30 minutes. She woke up perky but complained of a pain in her side and she couldn't stand up straight. We decided to call the nurse to double check with them and they made an appointment to see her at 11:30. So I picked up Jess early from school (it was a half day) and we all went to the dr.s office. That was a mess because Owen was crazy! Anyways...they swabbed her throat and took blood and called to see if they could get her in for a ct scan just to rule out her appendix. Her white blood count was high and that mixed with the pain and the throwing up caused them to want to make sure it wasn't her appendix. During the wait in the office, Elli was laying on her stomach with her hip cocked and was coloring so I thought for sure that we were just wasting everyone's time. But they sent us to the hospital at 1pm to drink the solution for the scan and then we were to go to a different hospital for the actual scan at 3:00 pm. Thankfully, Quentin met us there because by this time Owen was a real handful!!! As we were walkin in for the scan, I asked Elli if her side hurt still. She said not really but it kinda hurt all over her stomach. I was really thinking we were wasting time but the technician said that the pain can spread to the whole stomach area. They had to put in an IV for the dye to do the scan and that was lots of fun! She was not too thrilled about that whole process. But she did real good and settled down enough to be still for the scan. The technicians let her pick out a new Beanie Baby and even let her bring one out for Jess and Owen, too! We had to wait about 45 minutes for the results and when they came out they said she had Acute Appendicitis and they could get her in to surgery at 5pm. Talk about a shocker! Here we thought she was just having some gas pain or sore muscles!! So they check upstairs in Peds to make sure there was a bed and they took us all upstairs. Elli was kinda nervous but not really knowing what was going on, thank goodness! Jess and Owen got to check out the playroom and had fun while we waited. But Jess also kept saying that she felt like crying several times so us girls finally sat down and had ourselves a good cry and then prayed for Elli! The children's pastor came and stayed with us until they had to take Elli downstairs to surgery. They let all three kids ride on the big bed and that was a picture I am sad to have missed. Owen was so tired, he could have fallen asleep had it been two more minutes to get there! We got to the surgical ward and they explained everything to us and to Elli. Then we had to leave....that was really hard for her and for us! One of the nurses took us out to the waiting area and our babysitter, Michelle, was standing there waiting for us! That was so nice!! And then our friend Jennifer came along with Pastor Tom and our other friend Missy. Jen and Michelle took Jess and Owen to the cafeteria to eat dinner while we waited for Elli to get out of surgery. It was about a 30min. procedure and then we were able to go upstairs to see her. And that is where the pictures begin =) Missy was thoughtful and took pictures for me because I was just concentrating on taking care of Elli! Thanks, Missy! Elli was put out all day because she couldn't eat so she was thrilled to be able to have a purple popsicle as her first food. That and she asked for gatorade, too!
Her big purple smile after the popsicle....cracks me up because it looks like a bad botox opp!
Her three incisions...the one on the right was the biggest and most painful.
She had a reaction to the sleep medicine...
The next morning...she was in pain after getting ready to go home!
Her ride out of the hospital!
She had a rough day the first day but bounced right back after that! She was a trooper and we are so thankful that God was watching out for her and orchestrated all of the details of the day. She even remembered to bring Lambie to her dr. appt so she had her with her all day through all the scarry stuff! We are so thankful for all the prayers that were prayed on our behalf, too!
