I just want to know if my expectations are too high? My 2.5 year old boy had surgery last night for ruptured apendix.It raptured about 2 days before the surgery. He was in ER on Thursday and the doctor discharged him with a stomach virus,after taking x-rays of his belly.At 2A.M.Wed. morning my son started throwing up with coffee like vomit, and he was no longer able to stand on his own.I called 911 and we ended up at differrent ER, where they just gave him IV and addmitted him to hospital. They refused to listen to me that something other than virus is going on with my son.He stayed in bed the whole Friday and the whole night throwing up the coffe like vomit. They still didn't do any scans or x-rays to find out what the problem is. At 10 A.M. on Saturday they finnally called his ped. doc. and when she saw him she started ordering all kinds of tests. Well, still nothing happened until 3PM when we got little more lauder. After CT scan, they told us his appendix is swolen and he will need surgery. We kept on telling them that is most likely ruptured and we need the surgery immidiately. It was Saturday and they had only one surgen on call and he was very much booked. At the end, my son had his surgery at midnight, and it was ruptured appendix, and the surgon said it was ruptured since most likely Thursday.
So, my question is, is this normal, or am I crazy. My child could be death by now if we didn't start screaming at them.Did any body had something like that happen to them? Am I just angry to blame the doctors, or is it really that hard to diagnose the appendix?
You are not crazy in the least bit. I work in surgery. They should have done the scan. He could have or can become septic from a ruptured appendix. It's not hard to diagnose either. I'm truly sorry that happened to you. I would have started screaming too! I hope he's better, poor baby. I'm sure its a miserable experience.
I went through a similar experience why my appendix ruptured. If I remember correctly, I went in on a Friday and didn't have my surgery until Sunday afternoon. I am so sorry your precious little boy had to go through all that pain and that you had to watch him be in pain for that long. Unfortunately, I think sometimes they wait to do the surgery because of insurance. I think they are afraid that if they just go cutting into somebody and it turns out they didn't need surgery then they won't get paid by your insurance company. I don't know this for a fact but I just have a feeling that might have something to do with it. It really irritates me that some doctors seem more concerned about getting their money than helping somebody!
In females I think it's harder to diagnose because of all the other things that could be causing pain in that area but I don't know why it would take them so long to diagnose it on a litte boy. Again, I'm so sorry to hear about your awful experience and am so glad your son is ok.
God Bless!
God Bless I hope your son receives the care he needs. I ONLY take my son to Cooks Childrens no matter the issue. Should he have had to be rushed to the hospital regular hosp. I would have his regular pedi notified and on his way. You do blame the doctors an xray and immidiate mri is needed to diagnose properly and in a young one especially that should have been addressed right off the bat. Did they test his blood cell count that should have been thier first tip off ... and the second the xray. I would be finding a lawyer and getting your rights and the paperwork lined up. A ruptered appendix is difficult to recover from esp. in a little boy. I pray everything works out ok for all of your family. I have 100% faith in the face that when my son goes into the Cooks care he will not leave until he is properly cared for.
I am so very sorry to hear about this. I makes me soooo MAD that any doctor would have done things that way. It is known to anyone that coffee ground type vomit is a sure sign of something wrong. That is a no brainer and I just Thank God that your son is doing okay. I would have expected them to check everything out the first time around. I am curious to know what hospital you went to. I am SORRY!!!!
R.
For future reference, my twins were very premature so we needed to know what e.r. to take them to should there be a problem. Childrens- the best. And medical city. From my understanding, besides Cooks, they are the only hospitals that have an e.r. for children.
I am horrified at the pain your little one must have suffered. At two, it is difficult to diagnose, but extremely sad that the medical staff was not on top of it more quickly. It is a lesson for all of us and this just underscores our need to trust and be vigilant to our instincts, especially in medical settings. Yes, you are very fortunate that he is alive.
C. S.
I wanted to let you know that this exact thing actually happened to my mother last year!! It was outrageous, and you are not wrong for being upset. I wanted to warn you though, that my mom suffered for months after her surgery with exhaustion, and even ended up with an infection (something like a boil internally...) anyway, this could be a rough recovery, although he does have youth on his side. But when the appendix burst, it released all of that nasty infection into his sweet little body, so he will really have to fight this off. So, that being said, be prepared to have to give lots of TLC for some time, and try really hard to get some relief, maybe a babysitter in a few weeks, or somehting like that. I am sorry to hear of this experience, and wish it were a little less common. Best of luck! ~A.~
I had appendicitis. Started getting sick on a Thursday night, waited until Saturday morning to get seen at an Urgent Care facility. They took one look at me, told me I had appendicitis, and told me to get my butt to the ER pronto. Got to the ER around 2pm and had surgery around 7pm-8pm. I waited so long that it had ruptured and what should've been a 1 day hospital stay turned into 6 days of pure misery. The pain and recovery was worse than childbirth and recovery.
The throwing up might have thrown the doctors. Throwing up can sometimes be a symptom, but a lot of times, not a symptom. Appendicitis isn't very common in children, so I bet they had a hard time figuring it out; however, with a CT scan, they should've been able to tell ASAP. I had a hard time dragging myself into a doctor b/c I thought I had some stupid bug but finally decided to go get it checked out after 2 days. I actually thought I had ruptured an ovary or something. When they said appendix, I was like, 'what?'
What hospital were you at? I was at Presby Plano and they had absolutely no problem rushing me to a CT scan and had no problem finding a surgeon (who BTW, gave me a good lecture about how NOT to ignore pain that long).
The experience sounds a bit crazy, but at least you won't have to deal with it again.
I'm not sure about the usual course of treatment for appendicitis, but it's not very common in children this young, which might be why it was difficult to diagnose. Of course, I think your pediatrician should have been contacted as soon as you went to the ER the FIRST time. At least that's been our experience with ER trips.
This link might help you
http://www.pedsurg.ucsf.edu/conditions_appendicitis.htm
Hi M.,
I'm sorry to hear that you had such a difficult time with the hospital and doctors concerning your little boy's care. I learned early on (before even becoming a mother) how important it is to fight hard if you feel that your child's well being is not being taken seriously.
Back in 1998 when I was 6 months pregnant I was teaching 2nd grade in Orlando, FL. We had a precious little boy at our school name Joshua that was finishing kindergarten. His parents took him into the ER one Friday night after midnight with a very high fever, violent vomiting and acting very lethargic. The ER doctors diagnosed him with the flu and discharged him despite his parents begging that he be admitted. They took Joshua home and put him to bed only to have his seven year old sister find him dead next to her at 8:00 the next morning. A spinal tap done at the hospital would have shown that Joshua had and was dying from menengitis. The last I heard there was a wrongful death suit against the hospital but not sure how it has all worked out. Like I said, I learned at that moment that no matter what if I ever had to take my child in for emergency care, I would fight tooth and nail to make sure she was treated properly even at the expense of looking like a raging lunatic.
I know this didn't answer your question about appendix issues but I felt compelled to share this tragic story to affirm to anyone who reads it that it's ok to do whatever we need to to get our kids issues taken seriously.
Hope your little guy recovers quickly and never remembers this tough time in his life.
You are not crazy! I'm not sure what hospital you took your child to, but Parkland is a training hospital and a lot of the ER staff are in training. Baylor is better, but with a previous diagnosis, they may have been looking at other things.
Sad as it may be, I have taken the tour of area ER's with allergic reactions to penicillin and surgical complications that put me in the ER. I have never been to Parkland and will never go there. My cousin was a medical student that trained at that hospital and she wouldn't take her child there. I have been to Baylor, it was ok but at that point since I was near anaphalactic shock anything would have been ok. I have been to Las Colinas, misdiagnosed. Lewisville, waited forever, but finally got relief and they didn't really realize the severity of my situation. Plano Presby, totally awesome!!!
I guess my point is that not all ER's are equal and you need to realize that ER physicians are not doing their normal hours. It is very easy to misdiagnose in this situation. Thank God you took your baby to another facility!!!! You are a very good mommy!
Jodi
