Hand hold 8 year old has appendicitis

[NEMSparkle]

Currently sitting on the children's ward DD going for surgery tomorrow at 8am to have her appendix removed. And I've never been so scared but having to put on a brave face for her!
Tell me your positive child appy stories.

DS’s burst when he was 3, he and I spent a week and a bit on the children’s ward. Several children came in, had their appendix removed and went off again whilst we were there.

Due to complications, DS was treated with medication alone and didn’t have surgery. That’s why we stayed in so long. Keyhole surgery meant the others were out in a few days.

I was less than 5 when mine was removed and it was quite at a late stage (but not bursted yet) so was done as very urgent. It was more than 40 years ago. The scar is still visible but that’s all. I remember parents bringing me to the hospital but then nothing.
Hope everything goes well and your DD recovers quickly.

Such a lonely time to be in hospital when your child is ill. I hope everything goes well and the operation takes place at 8 am.

Ds had his removed around 10. He was up and about within 24 hours and his scars were teensy and completely invisible within 6 months.

Same. My DS was 10 too. I'm a bit miffed that his scar is tiny, much neater and almost invisible compared to my ugly and very visible one from decades ago actually!

Your DD will be fine OP - as will you - but I understand your anxiety. What loving parent wouldn't be anxious? Hugs.

My child had theirs removed at 8. Were in agony and very ill before but very relaxed and almost normal after. The doctor got them up and about quite quickly for the toilet and short walks. The recovery was good.

It is so scary when kids have to have operations, she will be in such good hands though.
Mine had it done at 6 and 7. I was terrified but it's keyhole surgery and its pretty fast.
Mine recovered really well (and quickly) so did all the other children on the wards who were having the same thing. Mine were back at school the next week.
Also because its keyhole the scars are tiny, you can only see one of them on my children and its about a centimeter, looks like a single scar coloured staple and has faded to basically nothing.
I asked my eldest about it a few weeks ago as I was trying to remember something and he had forgotten pretty much everything about it, It will be so minor for her later even though it feels so scary now. Later it will just be nice that she didn't have to miss much school and that she had it at an age where she will bounce back so fast.

Ds had his out during lockdown.

There were a few complications with his.

1. They couldn't do keyhole due to covid
2. He was meant to be first on the list at 7am but got bumped by emergencies. He eventually went in at 7pm.
3. His appendix was in the wrong place and twisted round, so the op took 4.5 hours.
4. He doesn't react well to general anaesthetics, and takes ages to come round properly and then is sick/very dopey.

However other than every time he nearly sat up he vomited or went faint, he recovered well.
Day 2 was probably the low point because they really wanted to get him up and moving, and preferably home. We eventually got him up by moving the bed very very slowly until he was sitting straight. Once he'd done that (and thrown up twice on the way, and had to be put back to prone because he'd fainted once) he then managed to stand and walk around. We got home shortly after that.
After that it was all upwards and he has a huge scar he's very proud of!

They'd have ideally got him home the day before, but his O2 levels weren't really stable enough and he wasn't eating enough for them to be happy.

I think he was one of the more complicated ones they'd had for some time from what they said.

My son (10) had appendicitis recently - a serious one, as it had ruptured. Like you, we were extremely worried in the lead up to the surgery and the days immediately after.

A couple of days after surgery, though, we could see the recovery really accelerating. A week later, you'd barely have known he was ill at all.

It's a really worrying scenario for parents, not helped by spending huge amounts of time in the hospital. But this happens to thousands of children every year and the vast, vast majority are fine, even in serious cases.

I hope your DD recovers quickly. My advice is try not to panic if the operation takes longer than expected. As a pp mentioned, there can be unexpected complications that take a lot more time. Nobody explained this to me, so when my DD had been in surgery for twice as long as expected, I convinced myself something serious has happened. I was rescued by a lovely member of staff who found me sobbing in the corridor and went off to find out what was going on. All was fine and she recovered very well and quickly.

Thank you all for your comments and well wishes.
She had it out yesterday morning they had to do open procedure as she was too tiny for keyhole.
And yip took loads longer than expected convinced myself it was all going horribly wrong and the staff were of no help!
Then she had a rough day yesterday with so much pain they were concerned with bleeding at one point but all settled again.
Hoping today will be better she's so reluctant to move though it'd awful to see, wish I could swap places with her.

I’ve just stumbled across this thread. How’s she doing today, OP? I hope she’s perked up a bit.

She'll be fine this isn't uncommon. we dont need appendix's, and its better to have it young rather than older. best wished xx

Hope she's doing ok op. I had mine out at 10 years old. I barely remember anything. She will be ok. The plus side is she won't miss any school when she recovers.

My daughter had hers out 2 years ago she was 10 at the time. They did it key hole and she was good as new a few days later. She struggled with the pain for the first two days and wasn't able to keep food down. We stayed in the hospital for 4 days in total before being sent home. I hope you get rest too as looking after yourself is as important as looking after little one xx

Thank you all, she's doing really well actually and getting very frustrated she can't go running off playing and dancing around as normal. Think it's going to be challenging restricting her for then next few weeks.

So glad to hear that she’s dealing with it well. What a relief for you.