Alyeska Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 (edited) How old was your ds? What was his white blood cell count? I'm quite hesitant to do a CT unless absolutely necessary. Too much radiation. No elevated white cell count. He was 5.5. *edited to add* I just saw your update. I pray your little one is alright and that the docs can get it figured out. Edited December 14, 2011 by Alyeska Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silliness7 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 (edited) :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: My 14 yo had appendicitis a couple months ago. His white blood cell count was WAY high. Other than that, they have the same symptoms. The weirdest thing was that he would NOT walk. He couldn't. He needed a LOT of help to get to the bathroom. It was horrible. Did they do an x-ray or a CT scan? The doctors said the biggest thing that clued them in to my ds' appendicitis was that they could push on his abdomen and it didn't hurt a lot. But, when they let the pressure go, he was in excruciating pain. Rebound pain, I think they called it. (We happened to be on a cruise ship when it happened! Scariest night of my life. He ended up having surgery in Mexico. All was/is fine.) Wow!! That would be scary to have that happen in another country. My oldest had appendicitis a couple years ago. I think he was 12. (I'm chronologically challenged. :D) He got sick on Monday with what I thought was a tummy bug and he is such a tough guy that it took a while for us to realize how sick he was. He kept functioning through Wed. albeit slower. On Thursday when dh got home from work and ds could not walk and was disoriented he was sure it was appendicitis. He'd had it at 12 and he said ds reminded him of himself. Rushed him to the ER and he was rushed into surgery. I don't even think they took time to do any tests other than the rebound abdominal thing. But I was home putting the others in bed and waiting on my mom to come over. I didn't make it to the hospital til he was already out of surgery so maybe they did do a white blood cell count. Surgeon saw his appendix had ruptured once he got in there. But ds responded well to the antibiotics (I attribute that to years and years of 0 antibiotic usage) and was out of the hospital a couple days earlier than the surgeon had predicted. I don't say that to scare you, OP. We were clueless for many days and it sounds like you are on top of it, whatever it turns out to be. :grouphug::grouphug: to your little one. ETA: I just read that you've taken him back in. Praying you get some answers!! Edited December 14, 2011 by silliness7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama2Many4 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Just reading this now. I've never had to deal with anything like this, but praying for your little one. Let us know how he is when you can. I'm worrying for him now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silliness7 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 They need to do a CT scan. If your gut tells you appendicitis, listen to it and insist !!!! I do not want to scare you but this can be easy to miss in young kids who do not present typically and it is very dangerous. A CT scan can clear up any question. Our DS2 had his appendix rupture. We had been told it was a virus on an evening visit to urgent care. The next day around noon he was still in pain and had a fever so I took him to the hospital ER. They also insisted it was a virus. He had had an abdominal x-ray the night before that showed nothing. An angel on my shoulder audibly told me it was appendicitis, which had not occurred to me until I heard the word in my ear.....so I looked up on the internet what is needed to diagnose or rule it out and then spent five hours in the ER insisting that we would not leave until they did a CT scan. I was threatened multiple times with both security and CPS being called. They finally did the bleeping CT scan. Minutes later they were suddenly frantically hunting for a surgeon on call and getting an ambulance ready to transport him in case they couldn't get a surgeon - they came in and told me I was right - words I didn't want to hear. It had already been ruptured long enough for him to have pockets of abcess in his abdominal cavity. It took a CT scan to show that. They found a surgeon to come in. The two ER nurses who escorted us to his surgery were in tears. Everyone knew that if I had followed their instructions and taken him back home that night he would have been in grave danger. The surgeon who did his operation came out and told us his appendix was literally gone - it ruptured so totally it was missing. She said his was the worst she had ever seen and that he was really lucky. His entire abdominal cavity was cleaned out with antibiotics and he was in the hospital for a week on three difference IV antibiotics. We did not sue...we just said do not ever ever ever do this to another family again - do not make another parent fight for five hours to run one test that can be life-saving. The hospital where this occurred has changed their policy - any child who comes in with unexplained lower abdominal pain automatically gets a CT scan now. We know, because a year later, we took our older son in. They did not recognize us as that family and explained that CT scans are their standard procedure for abdominal pain now because they have to rule out appendicitis. Fortunately our older son did not have it. He just had a virus. But it was good to know. OH MY GOODNESS!!! I'm glad your ds is O.K. How scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer in MI Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Wow!! That would be scary to have that happen in another country. one. It was! The weird thing is that I just KNEW it was appendicitis. I knew he was going to need surgery in Mexico. We were really blessed though. The cruise ship was near Cabo where they had a wonderful facility with doctors who spoke English. They were wonderful. Ds had no complications. And, they did the surgery just a couple hours after he'd eaten. But, yes. It was very scary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Keeping you and your little guy in my prayers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k2bdeutmeyer Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Hope they have things all figured out by now and that your DS is resting more comfortably! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zookeeper Posted December 14, 2011 Author Share Posted December 14, 2011 Thankfully, it appears to be nothing serious. The ER dr said there is a stomach bug going around with a lot of pain and cramping. They did an enema and he felt better almost instantly. The dr said to keep watching him some since we didn't do a CT, just to be safe. He didn't want to expose him to more radiation just so we could say 100% it wasn't the appendix. I agreed. Ds is up and moving almost normally this morning (too early!!) and isn't running a fever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailorMom Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Thankfully, it appears to be nothing serious. The ER dr said there is a stomach bug going around with a lot of pain and cramping. They did an enema and he felt better almost instantly. The dr said to keep watching him some since we didn't do a CT, just to be safe. He didn't want to expose him to more radiation just so we could say 100% it wasn't the appendix. I agreed. Ds is up and moving almost normally this morning (too early!!) and isn't running a fever. Oh, phew! Glad to hear he is doing better. That is so scary - especially with young ones who can't explain anything..... :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laundrycrisis Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Thankfully, it appears to be nothing serious. The ER dr said there is a stomach bug going around with a lot of pain and cramping. They did an enema and he felt better almost instantly. The dr said to keep watching him some since we didn't do a CT, just to be safe. He didn't want to expose him to more radiation just so we could say 100% it wasn't the appendix. I agreed. Ds is up and moving almost normally this morning (too early!!) and isn't running a fever. I am glad he is doing better ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myeightkiddies Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Thankfully, it appears to be nothing serious. The ER dr said there is a stomach bug going around with a lot of pain and cramping. They did an enema and he felt better almost instantly. The dr said to keep watching him some since we didn't do a CT, just to be safe. He didn't want to expose him to more radiation just so we could say 100% it wasn't the appendix. I agreed. Ds is up and moving almost normally this morning (too early!!) and isn't running a fever. That is wonderful news! I'm so happy that he is fine. I came on just to see how he was, so I'm glad it is good news. I feel bad that the little guy had to have an enema, but if it made him feel better I know it was worth it. I hope he gets some rest today (and you as well). :grouphug::grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zookeeper Posted December 14, 2011 Author Share Posted December 14, 2011 That is wonderful news! I'm so happy that he is fine. I came on just to see how he was, so I'm glad it is good news. I feel bad that the little guy had to have an enema, but if it made him feel better I know it was worth it. I hope he gets some rest today (and you as well). :grouphug::grouphug: The enema didn't bother him one bit. The nurses were very surprised that he didn't even need to be held down. He just laid there and looked at me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassoonaroo Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Wow, glad he's okay (or at least heading to "okay"). I'll still pray for him -- and for the rest of your crew as they don't want to catch it, I'm sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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