Never A Dull Moment...

Everyone I know has been sick, including myself. Last month Annabelle had infections in both ears and was on antibiotics for 10 days, this month she had another (or the same) ear infection and was put on a different/stronger antibiotic for 10 more days. Her Doctor said that the new antibiotic might cause stomach discomfort so it was no surprise to me when she started complaining of having a tummy ache a few days after starting her new meds...

On Wednesday morning, after coughing all night, Jack woke with a fever. He was pretty lethargic and grumpy so I called and made an appointment with the Dr. for later on that afternoon. Just as we were getting ready to leave for the Doctor's office, Annabelle started complaining that her tummy was bothering her again. She had mentioned it several times that day but, once again, I told her to try and go to the potty and dismissed it as a side effect of her antibiotic (which, at this point, she had been on for 9 days). By the time we were in the car and on our way to Jack's appointment, she was screaming and crying that she was in a lot of pain. By the time we arrived at the Dr.'s office (20 minutes later) she was doubled over and hysterical.

The Dr. saw her right away and gave her a quick exam... Within 2 minutes, she had called an ambulance to take us to the hospital. Two minutes after that, the Dr.s office was filled with paramedics and fire fighters... It was amazing how quickly they got there.

They loaded Annabelle, Jack, and I into the ambulance and zipped us off to Children's Hospital.

Once there, they performed a series of tests and hooked her up to an IV. The CAT scan results showed what looked like early signs of appendicitis, but they were inconclusive. The Doctors weren't 100% sure it was appendicitis so they opted to wait and observe her for a bit before performing surgery.

Lucky they did decide to wait on the surgery because, although it was a rough three days in hospital, she was eventually discharged WITH her appendix! They believe that the pain was caused by a virus, but we were told to keep an eye on her for the next few days "just in case" it really was the early stages of appendicitis... So far so good!

The first two days were pretty tough but once Annabelle began to feel better, she really started to enjoy hospital life...
She had constant attention, a tele in her room, room service (once she was allowed to eat), all the chocolate milk and popsicles she could ever want, an activity room filled with toys, books and movies, and a never ending audience. The Doctors and Nurses at the hospital were amazing. They took great care of us and made Annabelle feel right at home. They even arranged activities for the kids on Valentine's day; The three activity rooms on her floor each had a different theme: one had card making, another had cookie decorating, a chocolate fondue guy, and a fruit sculptor, another had painting. Annabelle almost didn't want to leave!

Eventually Annabelle was discharged, but not before everyone on her floor knew her name!

After all that, Jack finally got to see the Dr. today... He has an ear infection.