Sunday, November 30, 2008

Back from the hospital....again. Surgery #2 in 10 days

Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, Dave woke up with intense abdominal pain. Nausea and vomiting to the point where I almost called 911. We both thought that he was rejecting the new kidney.

I spent two hours back and forth on the phone with the doctors at Cedars. They wanted me to bring him in. But I couldn't get him out of bed, downstairs and into the car. Not to mention the fact that I needed to get someone over here to watch the kids. Dave, who barely complained about pain after any of his procedures, was now yelling and saying his pain was at a 10!

When I finally got him downstairs (I'm sure an angel helped me) and into the front seat of the SUV, he was still yelling in pain. How on earth was I going to drive this man to Cedars, which is about 90 minutes away??

By divine intervention, I was given the clarity to skip the freeway, and take him into Mission Hospital, which was a mere 5 minutes away ~ with a full trauma center.

After an initial evaluation, some preliminary labs, and copious amounts of pain meds and anti-nausea meds we were told that he had an infection but they weren't sure where it was coming from. Then they used words that someone with a little knowledge can freak out about....like "acidosis" and "septic"....holy cow!!! Treatment for that would run the risk of hurting the kidney.

They took him down to CTScan his abdomen, and the next thing we knew the surgeon was in our room checking him out. Great, a surgeon! Cutters! What now??

The doctor began asking him to pin point the area where the pain was coming from. Then began pushing on different areas. As I saw him feel for Dave's right hip bone, then do a sweeping hand motion and press right on his APPENDIX....Dave nearly jumped off the table. I think I must have given an very loud "Whoo-hoo". Strange reaction by most people, I will admit. But the alternatives to Appendicitis were blood infection or Staph. I would choose an emergency appendectomy any day!! Poor Dave. But...thank God we can fix this!!

Dave was told he needed surgery ASAP. The surgeon was going to try to do it laproscopically, which would mean three small holes to fashionably go with his long scar already on the abdomen. Cool....chicks dig scars! :)

Dave came through the procedure wonderfully. He was in and out within an hour. No rupturing and no perforation. Thank God....all he will need is another oral antibiotic.

We, once again, see how God is in complete control. Even in what we see as utter chaos, His plan is coming together. The surgeon (who was just an on-call surgeon) has a specialty; appendectomies done laproscopically. Ha! That was pretty amazing! Then we have the issue of should I or shouldn't I have driven up to LA with Dave in such pain. God allowed us to be seen in a reasonable amount of time and Dave was able to get medicine to calm him down so his body wasn't in such agony for hours. God is good.

Even with an emergency appendectomy (which is in no way tied to the transplant....it is truly a fluke of timing) we are thankful!

He is home, once again.

1 comment:

Sharon said...

WOW! I wouldn't wish appendicitis on anyone but if Dave had to have it, God worked everything out!!!!