Laparoscopic Appendectomy

What is a laparoscopic appendectomy? It's the surgery Doug had done last night. He had appendicitis and needed immediate surgery. The poor man was then taken to the Pediatric ward to spend the night--why yes, there were babies crying loud enough for us to hear through his closed door. His thought is that they overlooked the "2" in his age, and stuck him with all the kiddies. The surgery went well, and the surgeon says he should be back to normal activities in the next few days. The surgeons site I read says he'll be able to shower and walk up stairs is 1-2 weeks. I like the first option better, and I'm nervous about nursing my convalescent and 3 small kids. I'm so thankful that Doug is doing better.

The story:

Doug woke up at 2 am yesterday with sharp abdominal pain. Thinking he had food poisoning, he went downstairs and tried to distract himself from the pain for the rest of the night. In the morning, he told me he was doing terribly, and said his stomach hadn't improved. He'd called work to say he wasn't coming in.

A lot of people have had a terrible stomach virus lately, and I was sure that was what Doug had, if not food poisoning. I encouraged him to go lie down while I took care of the kids and kept them away. An hour later, he told me he needed to go to the ER. I am a stingy woman, and I've only been to the ER once in my life, so I told Doug I'd call our doctor friend, Brian, to see what he suggested.

Brian said there is a terrible flu virus going around, but that Doug should definitely get seen if he was feeling so terribly. He said I could take him to a doctor (we don't have one here yet) or an Instacare. The only downside to taking him to one of these places is that they would send him to the ER for testing if they thought it was merited. Reluctantly, I conceded that I could take him to the ER.

I called my friend Missy to come watch my kids while I took Doug to the ER. When she came to the door, she suggested that I take Doug to the Instacare because she'd taken her husband there a few weeks ago with severe abdominal pain and they had been able to perform an ultrasound and take X-rays. Encouraged by the idea that the Instacare could meet our needs, I drove Doug to the Instacare. He said he thought we should go to the ER, but didn't fight me.

We got to the Instacare (I keep calling it that, but I think it is called the Urgent Care Center, so think that instead.) We waited for quite a while, and I left after less than hour, while the PA was examining Doug. Doug was there for the next several hours, getting an IV and feeling miserable.

He called at 2 to say he needed to get a CT done at a radiology center, so he could be tested for Appendicitis. This was nap time, and Brooklyn had only slept for a whopping 1 and a half hours all day, and was hungry, but we dropped everything and brought Doug to the Radiology Center.

A sweet memory: At the Radiology Center, Lucy sat quietly beside Doug and just stroked his hand and held his hand. She is rarely sedate and sweet for an extended period of time, but she could tell her daddy needed her, and she stayed right by him until he left to get his CT scan. I took the kids to the car then to nurse Brooklyn.

When Doug got back to our car, we dropped him off at the Urgent Care Center to await results. I threw the kids down for naps then. Half an hour later, he asked to be picked up, letting me know that he had appendicitis and needed to go the ER. Sigh.

I called my Relief Society president to come stay with the kids while I took Doug to the ER, and left some formula for Brooklyn, just in case she needed it.

The ER wasn't too busy, and I got to stay with Doug while he met his surgeon, Dr. Carter, who chided Doug for going to the Urgent Care Center. He asked Doug why he had gone, and Doug pointed to me. Dr. Carter's opinion: "You get what you pay for." Dr. Carter scheduled Doug for surgery half an hour later (after examining his x-rays and stomach.) Doug told me I should go home and take care of the kids, and I just looked at him.

How could I leave my precious husband to have surgery alone, without anyone waiting for him? I had told the Relief Society president's daughter that I would be back soon, so I kissed my sweet husband and left with tears in my eyes to relieve the babysitter.

When I got home, Brooklyn was chugging her bottle. I made the kids dinner, did some emails for my class, and then gathered up the kids to go the ER. I wanted to know that Doug was okay, and I wanted to be there. We went to the Surgery waiting room, and I was able to talk to one of Doug's nurses, who said he was out of surgery and was just coming out of his anesthesia. I told her to let him know we were there and we loved him, and that I'd be back after putting the kids down for bed.

I frantically threw the kids to bed and my friend Julie stayed here at my house for a few hours so I could be with Doug.

He wasn't doing very well, but it was a relief to be with him and help him.

Brooklyn made last night more difficult by deciding to cry a ton throughout the night. We are in the sleep-training stage wherein I only get her twice a night, and the crying was trying. I bet Doug had a severely interrupted sleep last night as well in the pediatric ward.

Thoughts: I wish I'd taken Doug straight to the ER. I prayed about my choice to take him to the Urgent Care Center and felt like that was fine, but I think my concern over money may have clouded my spiritual judgement.

Also, I love my family and our ward for being supportive.

Also, I am worried about recovery. Doug's doctor said he should be back to normal activities in a few days, but as I said at the top of the page, the surgeon's site on laparoscopic appendectomies says the recovery is more like 1-2 weeks. And poor Doug has to stop lifting for at least a month, which will be sad for him. He has been really excited about getting active and strong, and now he'll have to go back to square 1.

What a day. What an experience. What a relief to be able to have my husband.