Gracie's Emergency

So remember the little fever and vomiting thing I mentioned yesterday with my little girl, Gracie?  Well, tonight we are at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, and in a little while Gracie is going to be minus her appendix.  She started getting worse in the middle of the night last night, crying out in pain and thrashing around.  By early this morning she was clutching the right side of her tummy and moaning and screaming, so I quickly dressed and fed everybody and took Gracie and the boys to the emergency room.  We got Gracie admitted to an ER room immediately, and then spent hours there, mostly waiting, with a few tests sprinkled throughout the day.  Amazing how long it takes to run four tests. 

My boys were amazingly good throughout this whole thing, watching DVDs on my laptop and then watching all the bonus features on the DVDs, and then watching a fishing show on cable.  They were hungry and bored, but such good little guys! 

Gracie lay nearly motionless in the great big hospital bed, clutching her stomach and sweating, with labored breathing, obviously miserable and in pain.  And we waited and waited and waited. 

From the beginning, they were worried about appendicitis, but they wanted to run some tests and observe her for awhile before deciding.  And for the record, absolutely every person who helped us at Grays Harbor Community Hospital was extremely kind and helpful.  They kept us waiting for hours, but they sure were nice!

Finally Derek was able to get away from work around 3 pm and came up to the ER.  He stayed long enough to talk to the ER doctors and make a plan with me, and then he busted the boys out of there (they were famished, and about ready to burst out of their skin from being good and quiet for so long, poor little dears). 

So then Gracie and I got to go for a ride in the ambulance to Mary Bridge, about an hour and half ride (thank the Lord for our good health insurance!  This is going to be expensive, but it could be so much worse without good insurance!)  Our little hospital decided that the larger children’s hospital in Tacoma was better able to decide whether to take out a three year old’s appendix! 

So as soon as we got up here, the very friendly and kid-oriented Mary Bridge team examined my little bundle of misery and quickly decided that this was indeed an appendix gone wrong.  So they hooked her up to an IV (she’s also pretty dehydrated, since she wasn’t able to keep anything down yesterday or today, even a sip of water) and now she is getting some morphine and water, and she is looking happier than I’ve seen her in 48 hours.  Soon we will head to surgery and get my sweet little cupcake on the road to recovery. 

So in case you’re wondering, I am going back and forth on that whole faith versus worry issue today.  It just shreds a mommy’s heart to watch her little tiny girl looking so sick and miserable, and to be told to wait and wait and wait some more.  And I do admit I’ve spent a bit of time pondering the worst case scenarios.  But I am also trying to remember to pray and to place my worries at Jesus’ feet.  And to not hyperventilate.

Please pray for my daughter, for her safety and for an uncomplicated surgery tonight and for a quick recovery and protection from infection and complications.  Pray for the team of surgeons and nurses who will have my daughter’s life in their hands, that their hands will be guided by our Great Healer, Jesus Christ.  Please pray.  I will post an update soon.  

UPDATE:  Gracie is out of surgery and in recovery now.  She is going to be fine, it appears.  Her appendix was ruptured.  The surgeon was surprised by that, because she was so sweet and smiley when he came to meet her before the surgery.  He said he would not have been nearly so chipper if his appendix was the mess that hers was.  Guess my girl is one tough cookie.  The doctor will be watching her closely for signs of infection and abscess.  We may be here for a week or more for her recovery time.  Thank you for your continued prayers for Gracie.  Praise the Lord!  Our God is good!  My precious girl, oh thank you you Father for my precious beautiful sunshiny girl!