Appendicitis Strikes!

I had arranged to get off early on Friday, thinking I'd clean the house, get a head start on yard work, and take my daughter to a play on Friday night that she needed to attend for school later that evening, and I was planning on working on Saturday to make up those hours when the kids were at their dad's. Thursday night, I discovered that my former husband had scheduled an appointment for Laine that he didn't tell me about, so instead of yard work and cleaning the pool filter, I ended up picking up Laine from school, taking her to lunch, then going to her doctor's appointment. After the appointment, her dad followed us home because he was going to pick up the boys to take to his house. I arrived first, and Joe immediately came up to me and told me that he had been having pain in his abdomen. I asked him where. He showed me the lower right side. I asked him how severe, and he said it was a six or seven. It had started during fourth period at school and was progressively getting worse. I had him lay down and pressed on his abdomen. When I released it, he shouted. Appendicitis, I thought.

Patrick arrived and I told him about Joe's symptoms, and he agreed to take Joe to urgent care while I stayed with Laine and took her to the play. My phone battery, as is usual per late, was nearly dead, and was not taking a charge. Fortunately, Laine had hers with her, so we relied on messages back and forth to learn that Joe did indeed have appendicitis, and that he was being admitted to the hospital. I told Patrick we would head over as soon as the play was finished. He was still in the emergency room when I arrived, and they were allowed only one visitor per time, so Patrick and I traded places so I could see him. By that time, they had already given him an IV and had him on IV antibiotics. They were getting ready to move him to a room. They explained that someone would need to stay with him the whole time because he was a minor, and they would need our authorization if he needed any kind of treatment. Patrick had gone out to the truck to get Joe's charger and other things he needed. They transferred him to a room.

We finally got settled, and I texted Patrick to tell him what room we were in. No response. I sent him several more messages. No answer. Finally I called him, to see if he could take Laine home. I finally reached him and he told me he was at home asleep and wanted to know why I called him. Asleep?! I called Kelly to see if she could come and pick up Laine, and she did. I stayed with Joe overnight, praying, thinking, feeling kind of mad at Patrick, worrying about whether or not I should call in to work.

I sent messages in the morning to Erin, Kelly, Laine and Patrick that Joe's surgery would be at 9. Everyone responded except Patrick. I signed all the forms, went with him to pre-op, got him all settled. Then they escorted me to the waiting area, where I had to remain throughout the surgery. Patrick called me and asked me when Joe's surgery was, saying he never got my messages. Darn phone. Everything went fine, thank the Lord. They finished just as I had to leave for work. Patrick still hadn't arrived, but I had to get to work because I had  about 10 residents waiting to go to the Fresno Art Museum next door to my work, and I knew I had volunteers coming to help, thanks to the young women of our ward. As soon as I was done with my shift at 3, I left and went home to change and back to the hospital. Joe's post surgery pain was pretty high, so I decided to stay with him overnight again. It was then that I remembered that I was teaching a lesson in relief society the next day. Thank God the spirit had prompted me to prepare early for the lesson, because then it was simply a matter of reviewing everything. I had trouble sleeping that night. I kept thinking about my all the struggles of my children, all the yard work that I had postponed yet again, the green murky pool in my back yard, the messy house that needed cleaning, how to manage Joe being off of school and needing care, the fact that I had missed attending the temple at my regular time. And the time change had me freaked out. What if I didn't wake up in time to get to church? I also kept thinking about my lesson, and praying that the spirit would help me because I knew I would be very tired. I finally fell asleep sometime after Joe did, and woke up several times to help Joe use the bathroom. I also woke up when the nurses came in to check on him.

Finally, around 4 in the morning, I woke up and looked outside the window at the moon. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I felt peace and the love of the Lord permeate my soul, and I felt the whisper deep inside that the spirit would be with me during my lesson, and that I need not be so worried, that the Lord was watching over me. I then slept until 7 when the nurses came in again.

True to his word, the spirit was with me not just during the lesson, but I felt it in abundance throughout sacrament meeting. After church, we went to the hospital to check on Joe, and they told me he was being discharged. Kelly called Patrick on my phone to tell him, and had him on speaker phone. The kids were treated to a lesson on "how dad talks to mom" as he rudely, rapidly and abruptly dismissed anything I had to say in favor of what he wanted to say, so I couldn't tell him that I was already at the hospital and would take Joe to his house, where he would remain for care during the week because of my job. He arrived just as we finished the paperwork, and took Joe home with him.

And that's where he is tonight, in the "care" of his father. I sincerely hope Joe gets the support he needs to get well while he's there.