3 weeks and counting

So much has happened over the last few weeks.  I am kind of sad I couldn't document it along the way.  Which makes for a really long post, sorry. The last 3 weeks I have really seen God in the ways he cares for us.  We started with Kate getting stitches a couple of weeks ago and having them removed which I think is far harder and more painful than having them put in.  This is what we thought to be the beginning and end of our health woes.  A week and half later Sam was sick for the first time, a nice barky cough and rattling chest.  A sick baby makes you slow down.  At the end of this week we were scheduled to go to Great Wolf lodge for our leader weekend.  Now mind you my kids have been asking about this for about 6 months.  Two weeks prior they let everyone know at their school that we were going.  Kate was especially excited and couldn't wait she was counting down the days.  The Friday that we were going Kate came home from school with some pain in her lower right abdomen, I brushed it off and told her to rest or play with her friend that she had over.  Over the next few hours she continued to complain and now she started walking with a bit of a limp on that side.  Probably any other mom would of stopped and took her to be seen by a doctor, but I grew up with a ER doctor for a dad and unless you are dying you don't go to the doctor.   So of course we continued on with our plans to Great Wolf, we got there and went directly into the water park she complained about pain but wanted to go in.  In the back of my head I felt like something might be really wrong but I felt so bad for her if she had to miss out on this trip.  At dinner time we finished up at the park and ate some soup in our room, put the kids in bed and went on to a meeting.  Well about 11:30pm we got a phone call from the babysitter letting us know that Kate woke up upset, right away we knew that it was time we needed to go to the ED at Children's hospital.  We packed up and took her, I think Ben and I were a little nervous and scared ourselves knowing that this will probably result in her being admitted and surgery.  Children's was great they really catered to her age.  We first had to get a urine culture, which ended up being my job.  OK so I have to note this side story about getting it.  I took her into the bathroom, at this point she is not moving well and not very compliant.  I sit her on the toilet and hold the cup from behind her, of course as I am trying to do this I dip my whole hand in the toilet water.  I did a lot of mental pumping up at that point "this is for Kate you can always wash your hands just love her" think positively.  It then took about 5 minutes to pee, once she started I did't have the cup in the right spot and urine is now all over my hands, I just have to laugh at this point.  Needless to say we gathered enough to satisfy the nurse.  We then got blood work and a IV with fluids, next was the ultra sound, now it's 3 am, we are surviving on pure love and adrenaline.  The ultra sound showed a slightly enlarge appendix, this was enough to call the surgeons and move forward.  While we were waiting Kate several time quoted Psalm 23 she had just learned this at school this week.  It was so powerful to see the comfort it brought her and us.  We were in the ED till about 6 am, all getting a little cranky and very tired.  We were admitted to our room, it happened to be the floor where my sister-in-law Kerry works she wasn't there though she was with our kids in the hotel.  Surgery was scheduled for 10 am, we all were able to get a little sleep.  Kate at this point has no idea what is going to happen.  In her opinion the iv hurt and bothered her far more than her tummy.  I felt so bad for her we weren't thinking and let them put it on her left arm, big mistake!  Her left hand is her only comfort she sucks her two fingers to fall asleep, bummer.  We explained surgery to Kate she seemed fine with it knowing that it would bring some relief.  So now it's time for surgery this is the hardest part, partly because we were so tired.  She goes in  about 11:30, they gave her the wonderful sleeping drugs in a matter of seconds she was out.  It was so odd to kiss her good-bye knowing that God was in control and He can do what he wants with her.  Both Ben and I cried that felt really good, I think we would of sooner if it hadn't been for Kate being present.  We were called in to talk to the doctor about 2 hours later.  He informed us that her appendix was just fine and that her omentum had twisted and half had died.  Before this moment I had never heard of a omentum, it's a layer of fat next to your appendix.  So they removed her appendix and part of her omentum.  He said that he does this procedure maybe once a year, it's pretty rare.  Thank goodness she is OK!  We went back and saw her wake up, she was so stinking cute.  Just like her mother she was hungry right away, she had a grape slushy which brought many smiles.  Now it was time to recover.  I think Kate didn't mind this to much.  We watched movies she had room service and could order almost any food or drink off the menu you could think of.  Connie made us a wonderful dinner for us that really helped our recovery.  We really cherished the moments we were able to spend in the hospital just the three of us, Kate was so sweet and cute.  We were released the next day and came home to cards, flowers and balloons.  Thank you for a body that tells us when something is wrong and for the wonderful hospital that we had access to, this can all be taken for granted very easily.

We spent the next week recovering, Kate returned to school on Thursday.  On Friday night I prayed selfishly that Sam would please sleep in because I was so tired and he normally wakes at 6:20 am.  We'll he woke at 6:30, which then woke up Kate, I was a little mad at this point it was the sleepless monster in me.  Later I found this to be God's way of informing me of Kate's problem so early.  Kate immediately said that she couldn't walk and that her side hurt.  I talked to Kerry and decided to take her back to the ED to have her incisions looked it, she visited the pediatrician the day before because one of them was red and swollen.  I packed up, met my mom and took Kate back.  She was so sad to go back I felt so bad not knowing what was going to happen.  The doc and surgeons looked her over and prescribed a new antibiotic.  We got home and broke open the capsules as we were instructed and mixed it in pudding to mask the taste.  She finally took it after much persuading.  Within a minute she threw up 4 times, we were stuck at this point if she doesn't take this med we had to go back to Children's and have her admitted.  We tried to have her swallow it instead over the next four hours nothing was working.  Our last attempt, we put it in Strawberry ice cream she got it down and then threw up 2 times, this stuff was wicked.  We spoke to the ED doc that cared for her several times and finally she prescribed something different for her, we ran out and got it grape flavored liquid we could do this!!  We ended up getting it down and had a nice evening together.  Through all the stress and pumping the whole weekend before I ended up developing mastitis, so I am still working on recovering, yesterday was spent on the couch.  My mom cared for the kids and I did nothing that can actually be tough sometimes but I think God knew what I needed and it was to slow way down.  Lucy is sick today lets hope this the end to all this.  Please pray for health for our little family.