To take Dd to Hospital

[Wallywobbles]

So Dd12 had a sore tummy yesterday. It's a band across her stomach from under her tummy button to the top of her thighs.

Last night she did 5 poos and vomited multiple times in the night.

This evening the pain is worse. 9.5/10. Pain killers are making no difference. Spasfon no difference either. She has a temp of 38.7. No vomit and no poo. She feels like she needs to poo. She hasn't eaten all day.

I've rung the French equivalent of 101. They said wait to see Dr. appointment at 11.45 tomorrow.

Tonight is the big student night so hospitals will be full later.

Do I go or not?

My dd had very similar earlier in the year. It wasn't visible on ultrasound and by the time they operated it had ruptured. A couple of weeks in hospital and a lot of antibiotics later she made a complete recovery.

Hope the surgery goes smoothly and she's much better soon.

I'm very pleased that she finally has a diagnosis and surgery is planned. I hope that junior doctor who wanted to send you home last night is now fully aware of how ill your DD is and feeling ashamed at being so dismissive.
I hope your DD is out of pain and on the way to recovery very soon and I that you can get some rest soon, knowing she's safe and being treated properly now.

It was much less painful immediately and the main prob in hospital was boredom! iPad plus books/crafts/visits from friends and family.

Ask if there are any play specialists that can help speak to her before surgery to explain everything.

Talk to her lots about how after surgery it will feel sore but she can have medicine to help and it will get better fairly quickly over a few days in time for Xmas.

Lots of spoiling with lots of nice French smellies, magazines, books, toys, hugs and cuddles.

The poor bean. Glad it’s all diagnosed. Hope she feels better soon.

Timings a bit crap but hopefully she can recover over the Xmas break.

DDs team mate from football recently had a similar problem (no D&V but extreme pain) Turned out to be her appendix (hers didn’t show on scan either) and she’s currently resting up and recovering. She got so stir crazy at home she begged to be allowed back to school for a half day! It took her about 2 weeks to feel ready to start getting back to normal, but she’s got to have 6 weeks off from sport which is killing her!
I’m glad you trusted your instincts and took her in when you did. Fingers crossed her recovery goes well and she’ll be feeling better before Christmas.

Gymnastics is her raison d'être so she'll be tormented about not doing that. Her BFF is very worried but is also her but is her pair at school so will be able to keep her up to date.

They were really good about explaining everything pre-op. Now just waiting in family room for a couple of hours.

Oh your poor DD! Thank god you pushed for her to be seen!

Hope she's better very soon.

Wallywobbles my 13 year old grandson had a burst appendix with an abscess. He had 15 staples outside inside was over 50 suitures. He very nearly died it was a very scary time.
2 days after his op he came home. The doctors have been very surprised how quickly he got over it.They think it's because he was so fit, plays football etc.
He was off school for 2 weeks. The first week grandad or I picked him up. Then he started to walk to school again. Now 5 weeks later he now goes on his bike.
Four weeks after op he rejoined the football team which he wasn't supposed to do. Doctors had said 6/8 weeks.

Today apart from the scar you wouldn't know that he'd been ill. Good stories to impress his mates.

I hope your daughter gets over this as well as DGS. I'm sure it's been scary.

Sending to you and dd

My niece had her appendix out age 10 and insisted on going back to school three days later! It was done via a laparoscope which obviously made a big difference.

Not suggesting you send her back so soon but it’s amazing how kids can bounce back.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

This was us - well dc 5 years ago! Good luck.

Burst appendix, peritonitis, lavage of her intestines, risk of post operation abscesses. 5 days in hospital.

OMG! I'm shocked at your latest post. Have you seen the junior doctor who wanted to send you home yet? Your poor poor daughter.

Poor lamb, hope she reccovers quickly. My cousin had a burst apendix as a child, was sent home twice from the hospital as they kept saying she had eaten something that upset her. She spent a week in hospital and recovered very well.

Oh poor girl! Lots of speedy recovery wishes. Xx

Do you live near the hospital, OP?

Thank goodness you got her in when you did! Mum's instinct!! Hope she has a speedy recovery

Oh no, your poor DD! I hope she s not in too much pain and makes a quick recovery.

Crikey your poor DD, but she'll be okay now.
Good thing you went back when you did. I hope you can spare five minutes to find that junior doctor.

OP this is almost exactly what happened to me. I had the same op. Im not going to lie, the post op recovery was hard. I was on strong drugs and oxygen for 3 days, 7 days IV antibiotics and a further 7 days oral antibiotics. It took a while for my stomach muscles to recover, it’s a huge operation.

What I will say is despite the pain from the surgery, I felt 5000x better the second I came round, because the appendix pain had gone. That bit was like magic. I’m sure your daughter will feel that same relief. And I was ready to look after my baby alone after a few weeks, although school run for my eldest took a while longer. I’m just over a year on, and I’m 99% fine. Still occasionally get abdominal twinges if I do too much exercise but it’s very rare now. Your daughter has the advantage of being young and fit, I hope her recovery is straightforward and she is feeling better soon.

I was reading this thread open mouthed. It seemed so obviously appendicitis from your first posts. I know it won’t be a priority right now but personally I would be addressing this with the hospital.

I had appendicitis with abscess 5 years ago, no one would listen to me about the pain and I didn't vomit so they sent me away - the abscess burst and took my appendix with it so emergency surgery for me - I thought I was going to die. It was a long op due to needing to remove all the fluid from the bursting 🙈

The good news is I went home the day after and 6 days later I travelled down south to start a new job and I was absolutely fine :)

I'm sure your daughter will have a speedy recovery and be back to gymnastics in no time x

USS is pretty crap for diagnosing appendicitis. Over reliance on it tends to lead to late diagnosis. The blood results indicated significant infection (or inflammation), and together with the history strongly suggested appendicitis. If they'd not done any bloods, because they were so sure it was gastroenteritis, I could actually understand sending her home the first time. But the bloods were done to confirm that nothing serious was going on, they showed that something serious was going on somewhere, and then seem to have been ignored. Which concerns me.

The appendicitis not having been picked up on clinical examination...I would wager that she had a "retrocaecal" appendix - basically where the appendix is hidden round the back of a chunk of bowel, which does tend to make diagnosis harder. I strongly suspect she also had a significantly raised heart rate for her, though that is something harder to pick up in the sporty kids, as their resting heart rate tends to below average, so their raised rate doesn't look as high.

In terms of recovery, it does of course take longer to recover from a ruptured appendix. They'll have washed out as much gunk/pus as possible. If they had any doubts about having got it all out, they'd have left a drain in. I'm glad to hear that she'll be staying in for quite a few days, but that's because she needs filling up with IV ABs whilst her body finishes mopping up any bugs left behind. Kids bounce back far faster than adults, but she'll probably be frustrated by how long her energy takes to come back. She may well feel better, try to do too much, then crash out. Try to pace things so that she builds activity back up slowly and steadily.

kidshealth.org/en/parents/appendectomy.html

Your poor little sausage, so glad you went back and they got to the bottom of it. I hope she has a super speedy recovery, bless her.