Lilly's lappy appy-10/15/10

On 10/14/10 Lady Lillian called me from school around lunch time complaining of a tummy pain.  Our little Lilly has a sensitive stomach with a soy allergy (and these days soy is in everything) and lactose intolerance.  So I asked her the typical questions. 
Me:  Do you feel like you are going to throw up?
Lilly:  No.
Me:  Do you have diarrhea?
Lilly:  No.
Me:  Well, sweetie, I have a meeting at 3:15 with you teacher.  Do you think you are so sick that I need to come get you now?
Lilly:  No.
Me:  Ok.  Well if it gets worse call me again.  And if not I will see you at the meeting and watch you during cheer practice after the meeting.
Lilly:  Ok.  I love you.
Me:  I love you, too, my angel.  Bye.
Lilly:  Bye.

So miss Lilly went the rest of the day to school.  I went to the meeting and around 4:15 went to cheer practice to watch Lilly.  Lilly didn't look well and Coach Jean had said something about her looking sick.  I talked with Lilly and she told me she had diarrhea, so we rushed to the restroom while the other girls practiced.  After that was over, I asked Lilly if she could make it through the rest of practice and she said no.  I asked her "Are you absolutely sure?  This is important."  And she said "No Mommy.  I am really sick.  My stomach really hurts."  That is when I knew Lilly was sick.  She would never miss practice.  She LOVES cheer.
Now let me say this,  cheer practice is mandatory.  The girls get 3 days of practice that they can miss during the 4 month season.  At the beginning of the season practice starts 3 days a week from 3:30pm-6pm Monday, Thursday, and Friday.  Then the coaches start to add Saturday practices that last 4-5 hours.  Then if the girls score high enough in regionals to go to nationals, they practice 5 days a week for 2 weeks from 3:30pm-6:30pm and that includes the mandatory study hall.  Lilly had never missed a day.  Lilly was working hard on all of her cheer moves and was ready for the local competition that was coming up on 10/23/10.  
So I told the coaches and took her home.  She writhed in pain all the way home.  She said she had to go to the bathroom.  I thought she was getting the flu.  We got home, got her into my bed and I gave her some Pepto Bismal.  Gross.  I hate that stuff.  She threw it up.  Poor thing.  She was throwing up on the carpet (on the way to the bathroom) and apologizing at the same time for throwing up on the carpet.  Whenever I see throw up or fever (which she had) I think of the flu.  
After an hour or 2 passed, I took note that Lilly could not walk standing straight up.  She was hunched over and said that it hurt too bad to stand up right.  She couldn't cough without her stomach hurting.  Then I said to myself, this is NOT the flu. It sounded to me like she had appendicitis.  Thank God for web md.  I went on there and her symptoms were that of appendicitis.  So I called the doctor at 8pm.  She said it sounded like appendicitis but we decided to wait a while before going to the hospital, just to see if the pain progressed or slacked off.  It progressed slightly.  At that moment, Neal and I started to question whether or not we should take her to the emergency room. Our friend from church came over to give Lilly a blessing.  After that, we decided to go around 10pm that night.  Na-na watched Trev for us.  
We got to the emergency room.  That place is always an interesting place to visit.  However, it was not the way I wanted to spend my Thursday night.  
We were finally called back.  Lilly got a bed and by this time it was 11:30 and she was in a lot of  pain.  I was exhausted.  And Neal was worried.  
The nurses put a port put in her hand and ordered a cat scan.  Lilly had to drink 8 ounces of contrast (which is a lot for Lilly).  It took her about an hour to 2 hours to drink it because it tasted horrible and then.....she threw it up!  After a person drinks contrast, they need it in their system for an hour.  The technicians decided to do the scan anyway.  Of course it came back with barely visible images.  A cat scan is expensive and drinking contrast is horrible on a little person.  The nurse came back in with more contrast.  I was mad.  I had a talk with another nurse and told him that Lilly was in a lot of pain.  I told him that we were NOT going to make her drink anymore contrast and I knew that there was another way to determine that she had an infection.  By this time it was around 2 am. 
Finally, the doctor came back with the results of her white blood cells.  They were over 20,000.   Then the surgeon came in.  He examined her and decided by good ol' common sense, an examination, and with blood test results that she had....drum roll please.... appendicitis.  Great, now we can finally get our daughter feeling better!  We have an answer and a solution. Surgery was schedule for 3:30am.  
While Lilly was in surgery, Neal and I had about an hour of unrestful napping on chairs in a waiting room.  (We didn't sleep for 36 hours and when we did sleep it was interrupted.)  I called my Dad and he got to the hospital by 6 am.  And Neal called his parents to tell them the news.  We got to see Lilly around 5:30am.
My daughter is absolutely amazing.  Her pain threshold is like nothing I have ever seen before.  She is a trooper.  She is strong.  And she did not get her pain tolerance from me.  :)
The nurse in the children's wing was as sweet as pie.  She talked to me and told me that by 9 am she was going to have Lilly walking up and down the hallway.  It was like a warning to me from her.  She was telling me it was going to be done whether I liked it or not because she wanted Lilly to get better.  She didn't say it that way, but I could tell that she has had to deal with some parents that are uncooperative, therefore, she was letting me know up front what was going to be expected of us and Lilly.  I told her that I wanted the best for Lilly and I would be strong and that I knew what had to be done, would be done.
So 9 am came around and Lilly wanted to go to put on some clothes to keep her modest for her walk down the hallway and go to the bathroom.  So, I helped Lilly change and helped her to the bathroom.  Really, the only thing I did was put her socks on her feet, put her pants on her, and showed her how to walk with the rolly thing with her medicine bags on it (I don't know what it is called :)).  She went to the bathroom by her self and was ready to go on a walk. This is an expample of Lilly's pain tolerance.  For about 6 hours Lilly would go to the bathroom but not complain or tell anyone that it hurt when she peed.  We only found out later on that it hurt her, when someone mentioned that she had a catheter in her during the surgery and then she said something like, "That's why it hurts when I go to the bathroom." Then during our walk she wanted to go to the playroom, then she wanted to go on the terrace, then back to the playroom.  The nurse was amazed.  She told Lilly that she was stronger than the teenage boys that she takes care of after their lappy appy's.  That made Lilly (and me) feel good. 
Lilly got phone calls from Aunt Tamara, Aunt Jaymi, and Grandma Rosie.  Uncle Alex, Na-na, Trevor, Coach Karen, and Paps came to visit and her cheer team sent her flowers and a teddy bear.
We were out of the hospital by 6pm on Friday and in bed by 7pm.  Then Lilly was at cheer practice the next day (only watching.)  Gotta love her enthusiasm!