Another Emergency Surgery!

Friday, Jan. 11 at 10 PM I started to have annoying pains in the center of my abdomen that lasted through the night. At 3 AM, I rolled my feverish 2-year-old off my head and consumed a bowl of honey nut cheerios, thinking that the pains I was enduring were hunger produced.
At 6 AM, my 16-year-old drove to his wrestling tournament with me sitting beside him, hunched over a barf bucket and a sick toddler strapped in her seat in the back. I proclaimed that I might need him to take me to the ER because of the unrelenting pain, but determined that he had worked hard to compete at the tournament and I did not want to prevent him from his matches. His anxiety rose as I pushed him from the car in to the High School and took over the driver's seat. I actually drove past the ER on my way home and contemplated stopping, but questioned what I would do with a sick child in the ER.
Brad arrived home from work at 6:30 AM and took over the care of the children while I determined to ride out the pain. At 11 AM, after a hot bath, ibuprofen, and a blessing, I said, "GET IN THE CAR AND TAKE ME TO THE ER--12 hours of pain was enough." The staff administered morphine, nausea medicine and a CT scan and by 5 PM, I had my diagnose-infected appendix. Within the hour, I was on the table, having the useless organ removed laproscopically. After 4 days of recovery, I am back to the daily routine of children's needs.
It just so happens that Carson turned 9 on this day! He spent the day with his grandparents and cousins and stated later that he had "the BEST birthday ever"! I like to think it was because of the TOWER OF CHOCOLATE" that he found in the morning for his gift. That was the ONLY gift he got all day as no one was in a mood to celebrate. Maybe he thought it was the best birthday because he did not have parents around to tell him to do Saturday chores.
Our future Eagle Scout began his project this week. It has been 15 degrees or below all week, and part of his project is collecting items in the neighborhood. He sent out 8 scouts in 8 degree weather to collect items. They were good sports about the project and loved the hot chocolate after!