Day One…Monday, September 14th

We woke up at 5:30 am because Devon was in a lot of pain. I couldn’t calm him down. We brought him into our bed and I said a prayer with him. He kept saying “Ow” and even started to scream sometimes. But then he’d settle down. He’d just point to the middle of his stomach, again. Dillon and I just looked at each other and knew that we needed to take him to the ER (we went to the one in Tooele, so Mountain West Medical Center). We gave him some Motrin before we left, and that seemed to help him a lot. So much, in fact, that on the way there I had to keep asking him if his tummy still hurt. He just wasn’t acting like it was that bad anymore, which totally made me second guess that feeling I felt that he totally NEEDED to go in the ER now. I even called the on-call pediatrician, who told me that if I thought he could wait then that’d probably be fine, especially if he wasn’t acting like he was in pain at the moment. She even said, “That’d by-pass the ER bills.” I told her thank you, but my husband and I had decided that he really did need to go, and I needed to trust our judgement. After I hung up, the thought came to me that we probably would have gone to the normal doctor’s office only to be sent to the ER anyways, which also would have prolonged the whole day by a good 4-5 hours since they wouldn’t have opened until 9.

We walked into the ER. I’m sure the people there thought I was one of those over-protective parents just jumping at the chance to run to the ER. Seriously, Devon was just letting me hold him and would occasionally whisper “ow.” We got in there and at first they were pretty slow with everything. The first doctor came in, who was actually at the end of his all-night shift, and said, “Well, he’s sleeping so that’s a pretty good sign right there that it isn’t that serious.” I told him that he really was in a lot of pain previously, and I thought the Motrin must have been helping a lot. He had a pretty low fever. Like 99.something, so they also didn’t think that was a huge deal there. They asked us things about when he went to the bathroom last, does he get constipated easily (no), does his throat hurt, let’s take a urine sample and draw some blood and get an IV going because he looked dehydrated. All that stuff. Kind of took a long time. I called my mom while we were waiting, and she said, “Don’t you want to take him to Primary Children’s Hospital?” I said, “No, I trust them here. I trust them to send him there if they feel like they can’t handle it.” So the doctor on the day shift got there and he was a little better. He explained that they wanted to rule out the more simple things first, like the strep, bladder infection, etc, but that the blood work would show if his white blood cells were elevated. If they were and everything else was normal, they would do a rectal CT scan. And he said, “But hopefully you won’t have to, because NOBODY wants to do something like that!”

So Devon got his first IV. They poked his elbow-pit first and it didn’t work after wiggling it around. The poor kid. He was so brave about it though. He cried pretty silently but was very sad about it. Especially since they had to do another one in his hand after that. They took his blood for labs and started the IV. They swabbed his throat and they had him pee in a cup. Devon was doing so great for all of this. They ruled out everything, except he did have a tiny bladder infection, but nothing that would account for his white blood cell count or the pain, which was 18; they said that was very high. They said normal is around 4-10. So that told them that something was not right. So they ordered the CT scan. They had to insert this big ol’ tube up his bum, and leave it there for 1/2 an hour. He did really well with it though. The nurse came in and was totally impressed. He said, “I’m being completely sincere when I say that I wish our adult patients were as good as he is! I completely expected some noise coming from your room when he got that tube in.” So that helped Devon I think, hearing how brave everyone thought he was being. He was guarding his abdomen though, which also pointed towards appendicitis.

They did the CT scan. They even give the patient morphine for it! The tube was for the dye to be able to see the appendix. But they said that the appendix didn’t take the dye, which either meant (they said) that he had too much blockage in his intestines, or that the appendix had swollen shut. There was some fluid around the appendix, which they said they didn’t really know what to think about that, but they were pretty sure that his appendix had not ruptured, but the doctor did think that it was the early stages of appendicitis. He even called the surgeon who said, “He’s only 4, send him to Primary Children’s.” I’m oh so glad they did. They sent us with the CT images and all the other tests and paperwork they did. They just told me to drive, it wasn’t a huge emergency.

I went home for about 5 minutes on the way and grabbed a bag with some of his comforts like books and his puppy, and also the camera since I felt this would be something we’d want to document for Devon. They had given him a teddy bear at Mountain West that he LOVED–they gave it to him for getting his IV. His name became Teddy. When I told him we were going to Primary Children’s Hospital where Bailey had her surgery, he got a bit scared and said, “Are they going to cut my head open?” Sadness! Well…not your head. Hopefully not anything, but since the doctor and my feelings were saying otherwise, I couldn’t really say much at that point.

My mom met us at the ER. He slept nearly the whole way there, thankfully. Once he woke up, he really had a lot of pain over the bumps. We got there around noon. He was getting tired of being brave. He also was burning up, even with the Motrin from that morning. I guess it was probably wearing off by then, but his temperature was 103.5 and his heart rate was extremely high. He was very lethargic and pretty miserable. They said he was in shock. So he had like a code red or something, which makes the lights in the hall blink and a bunch of people rush into the room to hurry and help him. He was so afraid they’d have to poke him again, but luckily they kept his IV in from Tooele, and the nurse was able to get some blood out through that. It made my mom and me both tear up at how sad he was they’d have to poke him. He was SO so sad and scared they would.

The surgeon, Dr. Rallins, came down and read the CT images. He came in and told us that the fluid around the appendix told them that they were pretty sure it had already ruptured, but they wouldn’t be able to know for sure until he was in there. Isn’t that weird that they read the same CT images as the people in Tooele, yet they got completely different answers from them? That kind of made me realize that if it seems serious, then I’m taking my kids to Salt Lake! But again, I had my c-section with Bailey in Tooele and was totally happy with everything there, so maybe it’s just kids should be entrusted at Primary Children’s! Lucky we live so close to such an awesome hospital!!!

After the surgeon talked to us, I could tell that Devon didn’t understand what he was telling us all. So I told him what they had to do. How scary for a 4 year old to be told they were going to cut him open! He was very afraid. I talked with him and my mom did and between the two of us, he settled down. Then he started asking me things like, “Will I feel it? Will it hurt? What kind of medicine do they have? Blue kind?” It was very sweet and heartbreaking.

Dillon barely made it! They had an opening and so got him in fairly quickly. Before he went in, we were in the little waiting room and Devon was so calm. We had said another prayer together. I was so glad that Dillon made it and that my mom was there. I was afraid I would be alone! Thankfully Sheila was able to take Carson and Bailey that day. So yah, while we were waiting for them to get him and take him away he looked at me and said, “I’m not crying. I’m so brave.” You should have seen the look of pure happiness when Dillon confirmed that yes, he was SO brave. He was so happy to have pleased Dillon like that. It was very cute. So they let us walk down the hall a little ways while they pushed him on his bed. We gave him hugs and kisses and told him we’d be there when he woke up, or very soon after. He really was so brave. Not even a tear. Well, from him. But again, as with Bailey’s surgery, we felt calm and peaceful, though I was still sad to have to let him go alone. With Bailey, they said they’d put a scent through the gas that tasted like pineapple. Devon got to choose what flavor he wanted to smell, and he asked for the root beer one:). But he had no recollection about it later…he told me, “Maybe they forgot, mom.”

He went in for his surgery about 3:00 pm. He was in there for an hour and a half. His appendix had ruptured. The surgeon was afraid that if it already had, he wouldn’t be able to clean out the infection well enough without cutting the 4″ place over his appendix. Luckily, he was able to, so the whole thing was laparscopic, which meant 3 small incisions. Isn’t that amazing!? They do one in the belly button as well, so you won’t hardly see that one. When I had my gall bladder out after I had Devon, that is how they did it with me (but with 4 incisions, and the recovery was much easier with that than getting your appendix out!).

Since it had ruptured, that meant that he would be in the hospital for a minimum of 4 days. We’d be able to go home on Friday. They have to give super strong antibiotics to get all the infection out of your body. They said since it had ruptured, the risk of infection or an abscess is up to 25%. He couldn’t eat or drink anything all day Monday. He told me before that he was so hungry and thirsty.

They let one parent go to the recovery room while they woke up. I went in and he was doing this screaming but whispering, “Mom! MOM!” over and over. Even though I was right there and his eyes were open, he couldn’t tell I was there. The nurse said because of all the narcotics. She was really surprised that he was even awake. He was pretty restless. I hated that part with Bailey, and it was no different with Devon. You want so badly to help them but they just aren’t themselves. His pupils were so tiny. He was so drugged up and just didn’t know who I was! He finally fell asleep.

3:32 pm. Right after surgery.
Dillon and my mom stayed for quite a while. Karl came and gave Devon a blessing with Dillon. I loved it. Dillon blessed him to know that “Jesus knows what you’ve been through. He is here with you.” I really felt the Spirit so strong when he said that. It was definitely true. After Dev’s blessing, Karl said he felt impressed to ask if I wanted one. How thankful I am for him suggesting that! Heavenly Father knew I needed it, and I’m so glad Karl was in tune. Dillon suggested Karl give me the blessing, since I get them from Dillon more often of course. The most touching part to me was to know how much my kids love me. It just really struck me right down to my soul.

That night Devon slept pretty well. The nurses woke him up every 2 hours to check vitals and everything. They wanted to keep a really close eye for any signs of infection. One time he woke up and looked at the nurse and said, “I’m not supposed to be here!” just crying and crying, and then was out again. Another outburst during the night was, “Don’t do both at the same time!” At that point he had gotten a new IV, so both of his hands were bandaged up. I wondered if maybe that was why. Every time he woke up he would cry for me and tell me to be close to him. A few people asked if maybe Dillon could stay one of the nights and I go home to sleep. I answered that it wasn’t motherly possible. I just could not do it. I could not leave my sweet little boy wondering if he was getting another IV or was in pain or calling for me.
4:39 pm. Not much change! He pretty much just slept the rest of the day and night.
So, that concludes Day ONE! Whew! I’m tired just typing that all out! So if you made it this far, thank you for reading it! The days posts will get shorter, with more pictures.