Appendicitis and Pregnancy

Well, we never seem to have uneventful pregnancies. Although having an appendectomy during pregnancy is the "most common extra uterine surgery" performed on prego women, the chances of this happening is still only about 1 in 2000. Since our friend Page had this happen to her less than a year ago, that would make our chances astronomically small right? Not really.

Aside from having extreme morning sickness this time around, Rachel started to feel "ill" in a way she had never felt before a couple days ago. By Friday afternoon she had pain right above her belly button and was shuffling around the house like someone 60 years her elder. Me being determined to finish laying tile in the kitchen before school starts this week and manage the household just attributed this to more of the same pregnancy discomfort. Aren't I the idiot? By 1130 at night she hobbled down into my office and said her pain had now moved down and to the right. Probably the most classic sign of appendicitis. We cracked open my physical exam book and worked through a couple other signs and symptoms and were getting pretty sure this was the problem. Yet, we hesitated mainly due to 1) how much this is going to cost us 2) how horrible it is going to the ER on a Friday around midnight. After a quick prayer and a little more thought we decided Rachel should go in. I stayed with the kids a little longer and awaited news.

Most fortunate for us, our neighbor and friend Toby Enniss (surgeon extraordinaire) was on call and told Rachel that she had classic appendicitis no need to do any additional testing and that she needed to have her appendix out immediately. Although we are far from family, we are close to many great friends and Richard Swensen was able to come over and stay with our boys while I went to the hospital. By 6am Rachel went into surgery, by 730 she was done, and by around 830 she was coming too. We were even more blessed to have another friend as the day surgeon, Aaron Blackham. Who took care of her in recovery and got her home last night (she could have stayed another day if she wanted, but I think we all know that if you want to get better quicker, you should probably do that at home). Our boys pushed her out of the hospital on a wheel chair and on their own decided that they wouldn't "jump on her belly" for a little while. How sweet.

As for the pregnancy, appendicitis and pregancy isn't the best combo for mom or baby, so we will just be waiting for her first pre-natal visit to see how things are going, not much else we can do at this point. Rachel is due March 24th (making her about 10 weeks along now). Which as some of you may know, is about a week before I have to take one of the bigger...if not biggest, test of my life, United States Medical Licensing Exam USMLE Step 1). But, it isn't as though we haven't faced challenges like this before, and in the end, the proper perspective is this: Family first, because all the other stuff is just extraneous and tends to get in the way of what really matters.

A huge thank you for all the prayers, meals, and support we have received from everyone. It makes things so much easier!

Cheers,

Garett

PS We could have posted a picture of a grody inflammed appendix,Rachel's laparoscopicincisions, or something of the like...but that would probably just take away from the story a little for most readers ;-)