Surviving my child's hospital stay

Always in the back of my head there has been that little thought/panic of what will happen the first time Cait stays overnight in the hospital. What will I do. Well, we found out this week. Last Thursday night, Caitlin had a fever, that Tylenol did not help, but by morning all gone. Friday and Saturday she was fine. Sunday she woke up with a stomach ache. She ate a little breakfast, not much then said she was so full her stomach hurt. So we figured here we go, stomach flu coming on. So she worshipped the porcelain god numerous times, and the usual 7-UP, Gingerale, Coke or Peppermint Tea did not help at all. Lots of pain, tired, slight fever. So we did a little research online, and came up with appendicitis, but she had so few of the symptons that we thought, maybe not, let's wait. So Monday morning we woke up and decided to keep Caitlin home. She said the pain was less, but still curled up on the coach. She also said the pain in her stomach was now lower. We decided, that's enough off to Community Care. The Doc took blood, which considering she had not eaten for 24hrs and drank very little was not a fun thing. The took a urine sample, her temp was normal. He said, I think she might have appendicitis, but she is having less pain, which is the opposite, and was hungry. But he thought we should take her up to the hospital for a CT scan to be sure. So we decided Rexburg would be the quicker ER to get into for the scan. They had to put an IV in, which was awful, they had her arms wrapped in warm blankets to increase blood flow. Finally they got it in after one failed attempt. So hard to watch your little girl cry and you cannot make it better.
They put the stuff into the IV and then we had to wait for two hours before they could take the scan, and she could not eat or drink anything. Miserable time. Chris gave Cait a blessing with my nephew Riley. Finally we had the scan done and the Doc saw the results right away and yep her appendix was big fat and juicy, ready to burst, if it had not already and it needed to come out right away. So shortly after they where rolling her into surgery. I have a very brave little girl! One of the worst parts was the nurse going over the living will crap, that had me in panic mode. I could not think of that. I thought I would loose it, but cannot do that in front of your child. So we waited in the waiting room by the day surgery suites for her to come out. It took the doc 15 minutes to complete the surgery, regular surgery, not scope, that would have taken longer. Anyway the appendix had not burst thank goodness, but needed to come out. Then they came and got us cuz she was having a hard time in the recovery. She had no clue what was going on, still foggy and crying her eyes out, hyperventilating. That about killed me, trying to calm her, and she still fuzzy and not knowing what was happening. Finally after 20 minutes we got her calmed and could go back to the room. She slept a little. Chris's mom came to see her. Brought her flowers and a teddy bear. So she stayed for a while and visited, my folks would come the next day and my mom has been staying with us since she is out the whole week. She finally could have a liguid diet. Which she said was great, thought the beef broth was so good, tells you how hungry she was.
Chris left to go home at ten and I stayed. Not much sleep, when they check every 1 and a half. But she was doing so much better. What a tired little girl. We finally got to bring her home late Tuesday afternoon. She had been doing so good. Still in some pain, but no fever, no sickness. Me, I'm so tired, and hope that I do not go thru that again anytime soon, so much stress and worry. So hard to see her in the hospital bed, but she is so brave and did so good. She has been working on her schoolwork so she is not behind. I think she is starting to get a little stir crazy from being inside. This is good, it means she is doing very well. I'm very glad it is over and all is well. Hate sleeping in hospital rooms. Hate the food, but the nurses get an A+, so awesome! Kept Caitlin in videos, and DVD's, jello, milkshakes!