Last week we went to Rice Lake to visit Jessie, Dan and the girls while Eric was in Dodgeville for work. Eric left Sunday and wasn't due back until about midnight Wednesday night, which worked out good because Dan works really long days Monday- Wednesday. The kids and I were going to head back Wednesday after lunch so we would hit nap time in the car for the 2 hour drive home. So, we ate lunch, I was packed up, and all of the sudden Leyton starts crying that his stomach hurts. We had made one of his favorites- Tomato soup with grilled cheese and he barely ate any. So I held him for awhile, thinking maybe it was gas? He'd never cried that his stomach hurt before, and it came so strong out of the blue. Soon he was shaking on my lap, completely inconsolable so I called my insurance company to see if there was a clinic nearby I could take him to. Luckily we were covered at the Mayo clinic right in Rice Lake. The clinic got us in right away (and our nurse just so happened to be a good friend of Jessie's, and someone I had met a handful of times!) and they quickly ordered ultrasounds and got the Dr. in. We were all certain that it was his appendix because the whole way to the clinic and a couple times at home he pointed to the right side of his stomach saying that's where it hurt. Well, when the Dr. came in he discovered something lower (where we had not even looked)- he had a "massive strangulated hernia" and needed "surgery immediately". What!? I couldn't believe. I realize that appendix removal would have been surgery too, but for some reason when he said he needed to call the surgeons at the Mayo Hospital and he would be going in right away I couldn't believe it. It was scary and unbelievable, but at the same time he was in so much pain I just wanted him better. So, Jessie, at home with her 3 kids plus Cal loaded up, met me and Leyton at the Clinic and drove us to the Mayo Hospital in Barron. The surgeon had to come from Hayward, so we had about 45 minutes before he would be there. Jessie waited until Leyton was in Surgery, then her and the kids went and got Leyton some balloons and headed back home. His surgery started a little before 6:00 pm and lasted an hour. He was back in the room with me at 7:20, sleeping. He slept from the anesthesia until 11:30 that night. I should have slept then too, but of course I didn't, and then he was up until after 1:30. Finally I said it was time to turn the TV off and try to go back to sleep :) His incision is about 1 1/2" long, just below his underwear band. They put layers of stitches inside his stomach and above his right testicle to prevent anything from falling back in there. They said he's likely had this since birth and something (running/jumping, etc) just finally made it get to this point. They also said the chances of it happening again are 1-2%, so that's great news. He had his one week checkup yesterday and his Dr. said just to keep taking it easy, but she did give him the OK to swim "gently" at Grace's bday this weekend, so he was pumped about that! Still no riding bike, jumping off the diving board or going down slides yet. He seems to be totally back to himself already though! :)
Happy to see him!
Eric rushed there from Dodgeville (and had to leave before his presentation) and got there around 8:30
He said his feet were cold before surgery, so he was pretty happy that they had these slipper socks waiting for him at the hospital when we got there.
He's up!
The anesthesiologist Tom gave him some fun things to bring home:
Back at Jessie's, Lauren and Jessie surprised him with a couple gifts after Lauren's swimming lessons!
2 comments:
How scary! He looks like such a trooper in the photos.
I got teared up seeing him in that hospital bed. Such a little body in such a scary place. I would be such a wreck having to go through that. Glad everything went well and he is doing better!
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