This last week has been a doozy. Jodi complained of a stomach ache as we hit the sack last Tuesday night. She woke up at midnight with severe stomach cramping, nausea, and sharp pain on her right side. We waited a bit to see if it calmed down, but it didn’t so we packed up Charlie and headed in to the emergency room at 2:30 AM. It took the emergency physician about a minute to diagnose appendicitis, but he wanted a cat scan to confirm, which came back positive. The surgeon showed up around 7:30 and said Jodi was scheduled for laparoscopic appendectomy at 9:00 AM.
Besides the obvious concern we had for the surgery, we had Charlie’s breast feeding to worry about. All the drugs and anesthesia that come with this procedure had the potential to interrupt our great success so far with breastfeeding. But with lots of help from Jodi’s sister Kris and mother Sue, a limited but essential supply of expressed milk, and our diligence informing the doctors and nurses, we were able to choose the timing and types of drugs that gave us the shortest amount of time that Charlie couldn’t feed from Jodi.
On top of all this, Charlie had been battling his first cold for about a week. The day of the surgery his cold made a turn for the worse, even though his spirits stayed good. This weekend, however, he was more fussy than usual. It turns out he developed an ear infection and is now on antibiotics.
Everyone is recovering and feeling better every day. Thanks to everyone who called or sent flowers. And a special thank you to Jodi’s wonderful family, who graciously stepped in to help us with watching Charlie, bringing food, and even fixing leaking sinks!
