Early Monday morning April 23, Don had an emergency appendectomy at Mesa View Regional Hospital in Mesquite, Nevada. He started having pain Saturday night on the way home from St. George but he thought it was something that he ate like frozen yogurt or Pizza Factory. The pain kept him tossing and turning all night long and THEN he finally told me Sunday morning. I texted Dr. Chris and the we did a Facetime chat with me being the medical assistant. Dr. Chris and I thought it might be appendicitis but Don had no fever or vomiting and at that time the pain was a band across his stomach. That morning I had to hurry and get ready to church because Caleb had a song practice at 9 and we had Cody's patriarchal blessing at 10 around the corner. Don went to his beloved recliner and after the morning's events, the kids and I went to church. I came home after Sacrament meeting to check on Don. He said it had not really gotten worse but not better either. I fed Kyle and then Cody came home and stayed with Don and Kyle while I went back to Relief Society. It was our ward conference and the Stake RS Presidency was doing a presentation that I did not want to miss. I came home, got the kids lunch and layed down with Kyle for a nap. At about 5:45 Don came in to tell me that the pain had shifted to the lower right side of his stomach and it was not getting better. We called Dr. Chris, checked WebMD, looked up Urgent Care hours of operation and decided that we probably should just go to Mesquite ER. Don got a blessing from Grandpa Don and Cody and we packed a few things and headed out. Grandma and Grandpa came over to stay with the boys. Don and I got to the hospital right at 8am. The nice thing about small hospitals is that there is usually very little wait. I told the front desk who we were and why we were there and as I am pulling out our insurance card they call Don back. They get him settled, start an IV, draw blood and do all that "stuff" and then call me back about 15 minutes later. about 9:30 they came in and said that his white count was high and they wanted to a contrast CT scan. They had given him some morphine through his IV much to his relief and mine since I knew that he was hurting but he just never says how bad. Don drank the contrast "koolaid" over the course of about an hour and a half and then they wheeled him back to CT. That was about 11:15 and by 12:15 we knew he was having surgery pretty quick. They had to call in a surgical team and get everything ready but he was wheeled back by 1:15am. I sat out in the waiting room/lobby even though they told me I could go to his room and sleep or rest but year right, like any of that was going to happen with my husband in surgery. At about 1:35 I left to go see if Del Taco was open even though I wasn't hungry. They weren't so I took a midnight cruise of Mesquite and only found Walmart, Smith's and 2 gas stations open. I decided to go to Smith's because it was the most brightly lit parking lot. I wandered around for a few minutes and got some crackers and chips and twix bars and headed back to the hospital. I got there about 2:10, At 2:45 the surgeon comes out and tells me that he is fine, that the appendix was a little stuck and she had to play tug of war with it but that they should be calling me back soon to see him in recovery. She had told us earlier that she just preferred a regular incision as opposed to laproscopically because she can just use her fingers to do what she needs to instead of manipulating tools. After surgery she said it was just as well that she did it that way because of the tug of war she had getting it out. About 5 minutes after she left, they called me back to recovery. Don was still very much out of it but slowly coming around. He asked me some of the same questions repeatedly for the next few hours. After about 45 minutes in recovery they took him upstairs to his room. It was quite a large room with a couch that layed down into a bed for me. They got him situated and finally about 5:30 I layed down. One of the nurses came in every 15 minutes to check his vitals and then at 6:30 the morning crew came on so that was all the sleep I got until about 8am when we both slept for about an hour. Don did not sleep to well either because of all the poking and prodding. They brought him a lovely breakfast of broth, jello and tea about 7:30. We were very pleased with the hospital ER and surgery, recovery and post op. They were all very attentive to Don and me as well asking if I needed anything most of the time that they asked him. They also told me to go and eat in the cafeteria and tell them what room we were in and I would not have to pay for food. Don had a very good nurse during the day who was very attentive and also very strict. She wanted him up and walking as soon as he could which was good. He kind of had to anyway though because they were pumping him so full of fluid that he had to use the bathroom and he wanted to get up for that anyway. He showered around 11 and dozed on and off. After he would wake up we would take a stroll down the hallway and back. Around 1pm the anesthesiologist came in and asked Don how his throat was. Don said it was awfully sore, a fact that he did mention to me earlier in the day. The doctor said that when he was tubing Don he noticed a little nodule on his tonsil and so he rooted around in his throat checking on things. So that was why Don's throat hurt so bad. He told us it was probably nothing but just to have it looked at by an ENT after he is better from this. The surgeon told us that she would probably come in around lunchtime and release him but we did not see her until almost 4. Don had never had surgery or anesthesia before so they were very cautious about his care. He did wonderfully though and had no nausea or dizziness with any of it. For lunch they brought him some cream soup and ice cream for lunch and I went down to the cafeteria about 12:30 and brought my lunch back to the room. Cody came by around 11:30 on his way back to Provo and brought us a few more things-clothes for me, my computer and some toiletries. I showered around 1:30 and Don dozed on off most of the afternoon until the surgeon came in. When she came at 4 she said that he needed his labs drawn one more time, one more dose of antibiotics and he needed to eat solid food for dinner. If all of that was done ok then we could go home. I asked his nurse to assume that we were leaving and get us ready to go because about the time that we were done with all of that it would be shift change and it would have been another 2 hours to get out of there. Our nurse was super and did just that and we were out of there right about 6:15. While we were waiting for his dinner and stuff I took his prescription to Walgreens and dropped it off so we could just pick it up on the way home. I got back just as Don was finishing his dinner of meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy and chocolate ice cream. He did super so we were able to go home with him walking all the way to the car by himself. We went to Walgreen's and then straight on home. Mandi Matheson our neighbor brought the kids dinner so that was super nice to come home too. My sweet friend Shelby brought me some delicious Oreo pudding dessert when she heard about our troubles and I ate part of it Monday night and saved the rest for breakfast after fighting the kids off of it. I got Don showered and settled in his recliner, the kids settled, started a load of laundry, cleaned up the kitchen and showered myself before collapsing around 11. Tuesday was a little tiring for me and Don was super uncomfortable with hardly any appetite and a very sore throat. My sweet friend Shelby went to the store for me on Tuesday and then brought us dinner that night. My sweet friend Karrin, brought me a Diet Pepsi that day too.Wednesday morning I hit the wall and went back to bed after I got the kids to school.Thank goodness that day was the day our cleaning lady came. Don did not rest that day much and he had yet to actually come to the bedroom and rest in the bed because he tried it Monday after we got home and said he just couldn't do it, he was too uncomfortable. Our neighbor and friend Teri brought over dinner on Wednesday and Dena brought Olive Garden soup and salad on Thursday. I really could have cooked for my family but is was soooo very nice to not have that to worry about. On Thursday I took Don to Dr. Gorman's office just to be checked because his throat was getting worse and he side was getting quite puffy red and hot. They were not overly concerned and just told us to hang on until we could talk to the surgeon. We had placed a call to her but never heard back from her until her office called Thursday afternoon. Don did not actually talk to the surgeon either just an assistant who did not speak English that great and Don did not think she understood all that he was trying to tell her. I called back and asked for the doctor to call us but we still did not hear back until after I called again Friday morning. She finally called back around 1 on Friday. On Thursday I took control of the medication schedule we could stay on top of it and not let it get away from him-an issue that he said happened earlier in the week because he really thought it wasn't going to be that bad so he would not take his pills on time when he could and it took too long to get it under control again. I took Don back to Dr. Gorman's on Friday because his throat looked more red Friday morning. This time since it really did look worse they gave ran a strep test and since that came back negative, gave him a few other thing meds like a numbing mouthwash and some more pain pills. The doctor thought it was more a viral type thing and just to wait it out with the mouth wash to numb it. Don really had not had much to eat but Cup O Noodles and pudding cups all week because his throat hurt so bad. My other sweet friend, Michelle brought us soup and pudding for dinner Friday night because I told her that was all he had been able to eat. Her daughter Mally wrote him a cute get well card and said that he was the best neighbor and to get better soon. Don plays basketball with her and the boys sometimes here at the house. His blood pressure was up a bit too which was making him not feel good too. Through all of this we stayed in constant communication with Dr. Chris for his medical opinion and suggestions. I got Don to go to the bed Thursday afternoon and he rested much better after that although that night was pretty rough. Friday he moved back to chair but then slept in bedroom Friday night and got much more rest. He actually slept almost 6 straight hours and then moved to the chair and slept a while there too. I think we are over the worst of it now and he has rested much better today. I told him that if he stayed down and rested Saturday and Sunday that he may be able to do a little bot of work on Monday. He told me numerous times over the course of this week that he was really sorry if he was mean or grumpy to me when I had surgery or for thinking that maybe I was just being a baby because now he knows how bad it really is. He also thought that he would be golfing by Tuesday even though the hospital told him it was not going to be easy. He had meetings scheduled all week with people coming into town, rooms booked flights booked, golf course reservations all that had to get cancelled. I am really glad that he has such a good job and can take a week or two off work. The kids have been really helpful and other than being impatient because he wants to be well faster than he really is, Don has been a good patient. With this one we should meet probably meet our out of pocket maximum for the year with insurance so atleast once we get these huge bills paid off the rest of the year should be FREE!
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| The photo we sent the kids from the hospital so that they would know their dad was alright. |
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| The Battle Scar |
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| Treats for the Wounded |
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