Monday, July 15, 2013

Poor Katie!

Wednesday, July 3, Katie started complaining that her stomach was hurting. It didn't seem to stop her from doing what she wanted, and she still ate relatively normal. This continued throughout the week, off and on. Saturday, we went to Palmer's cabin in Fairview canyon. She had fun catching frogs and playing with friends. She had diarrhea a couple of times, but still, it didn't stop her from playing.
On the way home, blocks from our house, she started really complaining. And then Elayna said, " I think Katie is going to throw up!" Sure enough, as I turned to look at her, Katie's cheeks puffed, and she exploded. All over the van. Most of it landed in her skirt, but she was completely soaked. Later, since there was a bucket on the floor beside her, we discussed the proper way to throw up in a car--use something! 
We pulled over and tried to clean her off a little, but since we were right in front of yards of people we know, and because there was nothing else to do, we put her back in the car, drove home, and cleaned everything off there. We put her in the bath, Ryan and I cleaned the van, and put her in bed.
Sunday morning, Ryan and I both had queasy stomachs, so we all stayed home from church and rested. Katie didn't seem to act unusual, as far as we can remember.
Monday morning at 7 am, Katie came in and said she was sick and throwing up. She threw up all day Monday. She couldn't keep anything down. I would try 1 tsp water every 1 minute, but she threw it up withing seconds of swallowing it.
I called Michael because I was worried about her getting dehydrated. He suggested waiting 5 minutes between doses, but said maybe we should go to the doctor to get some nausea medicine. I tried the 5 minute method, but she still couldn't keep it down. I made an appointment with the doctor in the early afternoon.
By this point, Katie was completely listless. She wouldn't talk, or even move. She just lay on the couch, arm around a garbage can, looking awful. She didn't have a fever, or any other pain than in her stomach.
Dr Bott, after hearing her reactions, and observing her, put her on the examining table and felt her stomach. She was tender in the lower right area, which is where the appendix is.
Dr Bott felt that, considering the nausea and diarrhea and family members feeling ill also, she probably had a bad stomach flu. He ordered a white blood count though, just on the off chance it might be the appendix. If the count was high, we would need to do an ultrasound to look at the appendix.
We got some Zofran for the nausea, but she still wasn't keeping even water down. She wouldn't even want water or anything at this point, because she didn't want to throw it up. She was lethargic the rest of the night. She slept in my bed, and Ryan slept on the floor so she could rest.
The next morning, Tuesday, I woke up around 730, got showered, read scriptures, prayed, and got dressed. I got a phone call from the clinic around 830. They wanted to schedule an ultrasound for Katie.  (I knew right then that she had appendicitis and we would be at the hospital all day, getting it checked and removed.)
I told them to schedule it as soon as possible. I got off the phone, and started straightening the house. I put Katie in the tub, so she would feel clean. The clinic called back and said we needed to be at the Payson hospital (about 15 mins away) at 11:15.
Thankfully, Elayna had spent the night at Bowman's with her cousin Jasmine. I dropped Annalisa off there also, then we headed to the hospital. Ryan was able to take work off, thank goodness.
They did an ultrasound, which was very painful for Katie.  The technician and radiologist discussed something they saw, which, when they told us in English, was the possibility of being appendicitis. So we went back to the waiting room, until Dr Bott called. He told us the radiologist was 70-80% sure it was appendicitis, but of course they wouldn't know until they operated. Dr Bott referred us to Dr Hill, who was just in the building next to the hospital. We went over there immediately, and they saw us right away.
Wes, Dr Hill's PA, talked with us first, then Dr Hill came in. They both thought it was very likely it was appendicitis. Dr Hill said we could do a CAT scan, which would give us a better idea. Ryan and I both felt that it was appendicitis, so we just wanted him to go take it out! So on Tuesday, July 9, Katie had her appendix removed. Ryan and I bought "My Little Pony", the first season, on DVD so she could watch it while she was recovering.

It turns out that they think the appendix burst sometime over the weekend. When the surgeon got in, he said there was inflammation and infection all over. Katie had to stay in the hospital for 4 days. She was discharged on Friday, July 12th.

840 am Tuesday 
103.4 temp



White blood count
Monday-18.4
Thursday -7
Friday -6.5