About a week and a half ago, Dylan was admitted into the hospital, and within a few hours, diagnosed with appendicitis. He had his appendix taken out that same night and the following day he was sent home. The doctor told us that he’d be sore for a day or so but that within 2 days he should be back to his old self, but needed to take it easy for 6 weeks.
A week later, he was still in as bad shape as he was before he got it taken out. Fever, lack of appetite, very lethargic, and diarrhea. We took him back to the ER and the surgeon who did the work on him actually popped into the ER waiting room and checked on Dylan as he had seen his name on the list of incoming patients. Within 20 minutes or so, Dylan was getting his labs doneand before we knew it, he was back in a hospital bed.
Turns out he had an abscess which was treatable with antibiotics. Today, he’s back to his old self and it’s almost as if none of it ever happened.
Through the course of this experience, I found myself affected in ways I did not expect.
I got very angry at the whole thing. Not at Dylan, but just in general. I found myself not crying or being emotional but wanting to scream and be mad because I was worried and concerned about him.
I found myself doubting my son when he wasn’t recovering and wondering if he was just faking it to get some extra attention. He’s a lot like me and tends to make things more worse than they really are just to get a bit of sympathy. It’s a trait I have worked on for a long time to try and get rid of, but I can definitely see it in him from time to time. But it wasn’t fake.
I found myself a bit of a mess trying to balance my work with him being in the hospital. But thankfully I work for an employer who allowed me to put my family first so I took the time off I needed and Dylan seems to have benefited from it.
As a parent, I’m feeling better about his situation now, but not so much about myself. I am feeling better in knowing that this time around, I was able to spot the things I was doing that I shouldn’t have and maybe that will help me next time.
