Kylee's Ruptured Appendix

Wow, we've had quite the week. I guess you could say it was our turn, since we haven't had a hospital stay for a while, here's what happened.

Sunday night, around 2am (so technically, Monday morning, May 5th) Kylee woke up crying. I went up to lay with her and ended up being up there with her the rest of the night. She tossed and turned, crying that her tummy hurt. I tried to hold her in a bunch of different positions to try to help her but I could tell she was in pain.

Around 6am, she threw up. I figured that she must have a flu bug and hoped that she would start to feel better. But, she didn't. I moved her downstairs to my room and she screamed that it hurt her tummy. She threw up a couple more times, but then fell asleep off and on for several hours.

When she woke up, she wanted to watch a movie, so I moved her in onto the couch. She again screamed that it hurt her tummy. And later when she had to go potty, she cried terribly when I carried her to the bathroom. She now had a fever of 101 so we decided we better get her to the doctor.

We took the other girls to my mom’s house while we took her to a doctor in Tooele. She assessed that it was most likely a problem with her appendix. She suggested we take her up to the ER at Primary Children’s hospital. So we did.

Before the night was over, she had been poked and examined by several different doctors, not liking any of them. She ignored them when they ask her questions hoping they would go away if she didn’t talk to them.

Before they could determine if it was her appendix, they needed a urine sample to rule out a bladder infection. They had to put an IV in her hand to give her fluids because she was dehydrated. Then they had to use a catheter to get the urine sample because she wouldn’t even try to go. I think she was scared to death it was going to hurt like it had when I took her earlier.

None of this was any fun for her and she was in so much pain. However, she did really well through all of it. She said some things that were so cute. She was so hungry and thirsty since they told us not to give her anything. She told us over and over that she was hungry and would ask for a drink. When they put the IV in, we tried to distract her by telling her that the IV was giving her a drink through her hand. She cried “I don’t want this drink, I don’t want this drink.” Later she lifts the cord from the IV, put the connector in her mouth, and tried to suck through it like a straw. It was cute, but she was mad because she wanted a drink of water.

She also told me once that she needed salve on her tummy to make it feel better. We use Vaseline or Neosporin at home on our scraps and sores, so I think that’s what she meant.

She also asked, while pointing to the IV, “My owie gone now, take it out now?” She was ready to go home!!!!

Around 1:00 am they finally did a CTScan to verify appendix problems. By that time, Kylee was too tired to fight the procedures, but as she lay on the table below the big x-ray machine, I could tell she was scared by the look she had on her face. I attempted to explain to her what was going on. Not thinking she’d really understand. I told her that the doctors who keep coming in to look at and feel her tummy think that there is something in her tummy that is hurting it and they want to help get it out. I’ll never forget the smile of understanding she gave me and the small “ok” she whispered. Soon after that, she asked if the doctor was coming now.

The CTScan came back that her appendix had burst.

2:30 am – Kylee went into surgery. We were told she was the 5th appendix surgery that night.