Sleepovers at the Byungwon (Hospital)...again

Darren Writes: As I left the apartment with Kacy in my arms, I felt a sense of dread, saying to myself I can't deal with this again so soon. Although Sara is doing great now that she is on gluten-free, the time we spent in hospitals is still fresh. However, we often live in the wishful world of "I can't deal with this..." or "I can't take anymore..." when in reality we have no control over situations. "I can't" is really us saying, "I don't want..." And I don't want Kacy to be sick...ever...Sara's extended illness just makes me want that even more. But reality isn't about can or can't. In the real world, the place where I prefer to reside (although we all have our little departures from reality), sometimes we just do what we have to do. It wasn't about wanting or the ability...it was about doing. I remember Yoda's quote to the young Skywalker in training, "Do or do not. There is no try." [Okay, for the Star Wars junkies, the last part might not be exact but the sentiment is there.] And as I drove off to Dr. Choi's pediatric clinic, I just did what needed to be done. In the same way, we proceeded from Dr. Choi's clinic to the ER at Cheongnam Byungwon (Hospital).

Laura Writes: Wednesday evening Kacy woke up with really bad cramping in her stomach. We didn't think much of it. Darren was up a lot of the night. We let her sleep in and then we went in to school around 11 am and she seemed fine. However, by 2:00 the ELC called to say she was complaining about her stomach again so Darren took her back home. We were scheduled to have Open House that night, so I ran home with Sara around 4:30 and Kacy had deteriorated rapidly. She had started running fever that afternoon and was just laying on the couch curled up. Her stomach was hard as a rock and if you even touched it she would cry out in pain. (Kacy had had no vomiting, diarhea, or anything, just pain). I was a little uncomfortable with the situation, so I called the nurse. The nurse came over immediately and was definitely concerned. She suggested we take her in, to the pediatrician, right away to eliminate anything major like appendicitis. She said it could be nothing but could be more major and better safe than sorry.

So I headed back to school for Open House, and Darren took her to the pediatrician while my mom watched Sara. I ended up leaving in the middle of open house to go with the nurse, Darren and Kacy to the ER. Our pediatrician was pretty concerned about potential appendicitis so she sent us on to the ER to get some testing done at the hospital.

I made a quick exit and we all went to the hospital on Thursday evening around 7:00 pm. After getting registered they decided to draw Kacy's blood to check her white blood cells and to take an X-ray. A little while later (~30 minutes) they came back to say that her white blood cell count was high, indicating infection and her X-ray both showed enough for them to want to do a CT scan. They continued to be pretty concerned about appendicitis and the symptoms fit, although it could also be some other things. They said that they were calling the general surgeon and felt that the earliest we could do the surgery would be midnight since that would have been 8 hours since she had eaten last. They weren't sold yet, but were definitely leaning towards appendectamy, and wanted to confirm the diagnosis with the CT scan.

After the scan, they found that her appendix was enlarged but none of the other criteria for appendicitis was present. So they decided to put her on "surgical observation," meaning that they would put her into surgery if she got worse confirming appendicitis. Or not, if she improved. They assumed in the next 12 hours or so they would know by the course things went.

So, about midnight we got to our room and Kacy quickly fell asleep. She slept all night without waking up a bit. By the time she woke up the next morning she was feeling significantly better. They came in the next morning to draw more blood and to check her abdomen. It was much softer and when you pushed on it she said that it only hurt a little. They came back a little while later to say that her bloodwork all came back normal. They then came in around lunchtime and said that she could go on a soft diet and see how that went. Kacy was quickly back to bouncing off the walls and we had to work hard to keep her from pulling the IV out.

We were discharged this morning after spending Friday in the hospital. We tried to be careful with her today and not let her overdue it. However, by this evening we were seriously begging her to run around and get some energy out. We decided she may not be 100%, but she may be 110%.

The doctors don't have a real clear explanation, just some speculation. Darren's interpretation is that they don't know. And that is a tribute to their competence, not vice-versa. The medical care was good and we are glad they didn't just jump in cutting. Bottomline, she was really sick and now she is not. Darren and I tend to believe that perhaps God in His mercy made her better. We know that many were praying for her and for our family. But we don't know...and probably never will. But we do know God is faithful and we are grateful for the health of our daughters.