A Team Week 127: Not According to Plan

From the start of A Team Week 127, things were not quite going according to plan.  On Sunday evening after a loooooooong day of parenting I was trying to have a few minutes to myself and back up my computer for the first time in months when I heard Eric banging on the front door.  I had just connected my external back-up drive and was frustrated that the moment I had sat down to do something on my own, I was interrupted.  I ignored him for a second and then jumped up from my desk when the banging continued.  As I quickly jumped out of my chair and stormed to the front door, my foot caught on the cord for my drive and sent it flying across our office...never good for an electronic.  So, needless to say the week prior did not exactly end on a high note and when Monday began I was still a bit frustrated (to say the least).

On Monday, the week started off pretty typical other than my lack of computer back-up and that normality continued into Tuesday.  We got the boys off to daycare and went in to work.  I spent the morning working at my desk and then ate the same lunch I have every single day (PBJ, string cheese and yogurt).  Shortly after lunch my stomach began to hurt.  I had been having some stomach aches off an on for about a week prior, but it was nothing major and nothing really out of the ordinary, so I just chalked this up to those.  I continued to work at my desk, but was feeling quite awful.  At around 2pm I had a solo meeting with a potential client across town, so I headed out in that direction and made it through my meeting.  When I got back to the office, I was still feeling terrible.  I would have gone home, but my boss and coworker where in a meeting and I really needed to talk to them about the meeting I'd just had since the next day would be my day off and I would not be in the office.  Unfortunately the meeting did not end until almost quitting time.  I talked with them about the meeting and then texted Eric to ask if he could pick up the boys so I could head home and rest.  The pain continued and I felt like I would throw up if I ate anything.  I spent the evening on the couch with a heat pad on my stomach while Eric took care of the boys and as soon I put Asher to bed that night I headed to bed myself.

That night I did not sleep well.  I got a few small stretches of sleep here and there but the pain persisted through the night even though I hoped it would be gone when morning came.  When the alarm went off though that was not the case.  I did feel slightly better, but it may have just been that I was exhausted and becoming used to the discomfort.  The pain had shifted to my right side and now made my abdomen quite tender and gave me sharp pains in my back.  I was very disappointed because I had been looking forward to my day home with the boys all week.  It was supposed to be nearly 70 degrees out that day and I had big plans for a morning at the Dream Playground followed by treats at Culver's.  Instead, Eric and I agreed it was best for me to stay home and rest while the boys headed to daycare.

So, the boys left me home for the day and once the house was quiet I went back to sleep finally getting three straight hours of sleep.  When I woke it was nearing noon and I still felt about the same. I had no desire to go to the doctor but with a vacation coming soon I figured I should at least give them a call.  After talking to the nurse at the clinic, I was strongly encouraged to head to the ER just to make sure everything was okay as it was sounding like there was a chance I was having an appendicitis.

I arrived at the ER at around noon and waited for almost two hours (one of which I spent trying not to cry as I caught up on This Is Us) to be seen.  Once I got to a room, I was immediately given a robe, a cup, an IV and had some blood drawn.  Soon after I was told that my results showed no signs of infection (yay), but they also showed signs of inflammation and some blood in my urine sample.  Thus, I was told that they wanted to give me a CT scan to check for a stone or an appendicitis.  As I waited, I watched more TV on my phone until the battery died and then watched three episodes of Property Brothers on HGTV (I cannot remember the last time I watched so much TV in one day!).  Finally at around 5:00pm, I was taken back for the CT scan (which was a strange experience in and of itself) and around an hour later I received the results that I did indeed have an appendicitis and would be having surgery later that evening.

I called Eric to give him the news and after getting the boys some dinner, they all headed over to the hospital to say hi and goodnight.  By the time they arrived it was just after 7pm and I was being moved to a room in the Pediatric Ward (because that was the only place they had room).  The boys beat me there and happily they were has excited to see me as I was them.  We got some snuggles in and they marveled over my "bracelets".  Then at a few minutes before 8pm they were ready to take me down for surgery.  Asher was not happy to have to say goodbye, so they allowed him, Eric and Avery to accompany me to the surgical recovery area to say their goodbyes.  We gave our hugs and kisses and then Eric and the boys headed home while I waited in my bed waiting to be taken into the surgical room.

At 9:00 they finally wheeled me in for surgery, placed the oxygen mask on my face and then waited until I passed out.  About an hour later, I woke up in the recovery room and soon after that I was wheeled back up to the Pediatric Ward where I found Eric waiting for my return (he had gotten a babysitter to come and stay with the boys for a couple of hours).  He stayed with me until I got settled in and then headed back home to the boys while I attempted to get some rest for the night.

That night sleep did not come easily.  I was sore, connected to monitors and my IV and had nurses checking up on me throughout the night.  It was basically impossible to get comfortable and at some point during the middle of the night I gave up trying for a while and watched a movie on Netflix.  Eventually, morning (Thursday) came and just minutes after waking up from my minimal rest Eric and the boys walked in with a balloon to surprise me before heading off to work and daycare for the day.  I was so happy to see them as I missed them all very much!  Their visit started the day off on the right foot and I was happy to discover that I was feeling quite a bit better, despite my three incisions and Smurf-colored belly.  My abdomen was quite tender, but I was not in enough pain to ever require any pain medications beyond Tylenol and my nausea had diminished greatly, allowing me to recognize hunger pains for the first time since lunch on Tuesday.  By 11am that morning, I was finally cleared to have something to eat (almost 48 hours since I'd had anything other than water to eat/drink), and although the nurse told me to take it easy and not get anything greasy to eat I couldn't help myself and ordered a fairly large meal of an English muffin, yogurt with strawberries, grape juice and a bacon/cheese omelet.  It was delicious and I could barely put it down fast enough!  ;)

1st Meal in 48 Hours!

After my brunch, the nurse disconnected me from the monitors and blood clot leg sleeves, allowing me more freedom to find a comfortable position to sleep.  Thus, I took advantage of the opportunity and after sending Eric an update of the morning told him that I was going to attempt to get some more rest.  I fell asleep rather quickly, but only about an hour later I heard the door to my room open and then close again (probably realizing I had been asleep).  Unfortunately, the door was not closed all of the way and after the person left, I was unable to fall back asleep due to noises out in the hallway.  For about a half hour I tried to get more rest, but when I heard my phone indicate that I had a message I finally gave up.  The message was from Christina at daycare, who was simply checking in on me to see how I was feeling.  I don't think she anticipated a response from me, but since I did get back to her we continued to correspond back and forth for a few minutes and she sent me this:

"Avery has an ouchy to match you now on the back of his head. He fell off the chair at lunch and has a cut on the back of his head. I called Eric and had him come look at it. He took him in to have it looked at. I guess he said you were sleeping and didn't want to bother you. A couple of nurses looked at Avery's head and said he just needed some neosporine and he'd be good to go. Eric is on his way back with Avery. He was acting totally fine and he still ate 2 tacos. Played and was running around like nothing ever happened. It just needed to be looked at - all is well with him. Asher is doing awesome as usual. He has wore the allergy arm band all day- he took it off for quiet time and said he wanted it back on as soon as he woke up."

"Avery has an ouchy" on his head?  That was news to me.  I was a little surprised to hear about this, but it sounded like it was all taken care of, so I simply responded with this:

"I have to say although I'm a little shocked to hear of Avery's head injury, I think I'm more shocked to hear he ate 2 tacos!!!  I've never seen him take more than a few bites of one at home!  Must be something with head injuries and appendicitis.  I think Asher fell down your steps & hit his head on the day Eric got his appendix out!"

It wasn't until later that evening that I got the rest of the story.  At around 5:00 that afternoon, I was cleared to go home and once Eric had picked up the boys from daycare they headed over to come and get me.  We stopped and picked up Potbelly sandwiches and milkshakes for dinner and then Eric filled me in on the rest of the story...

Apparently the person that opened my door while I was sleeping was not a nurse (as I had assumed and was irritated with for that reason), but rather it was Eric.  Typically, when something happens at daycare with the kids Christina contacts me, but knowing I was in the hospital she contacted Eric instead.  She told him that Avery had hit his head and might need stitches.  Eric headed over to daycare to pick him up and then called the pediatrician.  The pediatrician told him that if Avery might need stitches to take him to the ER since they cannot do stitches in the office.  So, that is where Eric and Avery headed next.  When they arrived at the ER, they found a very full waiting room so rather than waiting themselves, Eric decided he would take Avery upstairs so that I could look at it and see what I think.  Thus, HE was the one who opened my door and didn't shut it all of the way and HE was the one who I should have been irritated with rather than the nurses which had nothing to do with it unbeknownst to me.  After leaving my room, Eric realized that he was in the pediatric ward and decided to see if the nurses there would take a look at it.  Legally, I am not sure if they were supposed to comment on it, but they did take a look at it for him and together everyone seemed to think that since it was on the back of his head (under his hair) and therefore meant a future scar would not be an issue, he would probably be okay without stitches.  Thus, Eric took him home, gave him a bath to clean up his blood-matted hair, cleaned the wound with hydrogen peroxide and then covered it up with some Neosporin before bringing him back to daycare.  From then on he was fine...or at least until it was time to lay down on his pillow and try to go to sleep...he wasn't so happy about that.

Table: 1, Avery: 0

We got home from the hospital and Potbelly, enjoyed our dinner and shakes and then had a little couch cuddle time before bed.  I was so happy to be home with my loves.

On Friday, Eric and the boys went off to work and daycare while I stayed home to rest and relax for the day.  I had been feeling pretty good on Thursday, but on Friday my entire body hurt.  I spent basically the entire day in my bed laying on my heated mattress pad and sleeping or watching Netflix.  I did manage to get up for a few minutes though to make myself some toast for breakfast, notice the hearts that Eric put on the boys' doors while I was away and get my laptop hooked up to my new external drive so that I could finally get everything backed up before anything else went wrong this week.

Later that day, daycare was closing early and since Eric had already been doing a lot of running around during the week, I went and picked up the boys.  I still wasn't feeling really great though, so we enjoyed several hours of TV time together on the couch.  By Saturday and Sunday though, I was feeling much better.  I was still a bit sore, but my energy and appetite were coming back and I was able to get some things done around the house and prepare for our upcoming vacation while the boys happily (& creatively) played together.

My little prince.

Eric and the boys went to Meijer on Saturday morning and looked at bike helmets since Asher is getting too big for his current one.  We were both a bit shocked that this is the one he wants!  I wouldn't have pegged him for this!  :P

Video: Like a G6
This is one of Avery's favorite songs currently.  Check out his moves!

Check out the monkey on the teacher's back in the church toddler room today...of course it is my little monkey!

Avery & Asher playing in the "pirate ship" they created.

Video: Pirate Ship Fun

Taking the boat for a ride.

Video: Ship Mates' Catch

Asher and Avery went "Fishing" from their boat and pulled in a big catch.  Before they ate their fish, they made us hold hands and say grace...which surprisingly sounded a lot like Happy Birthday!  :P

Video: Asher & Avery's "Spin Move"s Before Bed