Hi there fellow minti mums,

I thought I would write in because I have had the most horrid experience with my 3yo the last few days.. There was a really hot day on Wednesday and she woke up and threw up.. I made the mistake of thinking the lil

one had a gastro and helped her out according to my gastro drill.. keep her away from other kids, no solid food, icy-poles and as much fluids as i can get into her and make sure i watch for signs of dehydration.  The difference in her behaviour was very subtle but in heignsight there were some things that weren't consistant with the typical symtoms of gastro. She was infact dry reaching and what she was bringing up was more like bile and phlegm as gross as that sounds i think perhaps this was significant. She was also complaining more about her tummy than anything else and I noticed the absence of the runs, which is also a typical symtom of gastro. Later that night she seems to be coming good because she was now eating iceypoles and I thought well cool it was only a 24 hour bug. She still complained a little bit about her tummy so i put her in bed with me and she grizzled a bit till 2am and then fell asleep again. Note that a child can sleep for short periods of time even when they are as sick as my daughter was.

She woke me up crying and complaining about her tummy again thursday morning and then threw up blood into her bucket.. I was confused and Like whats going on! She went to hop out of bed and I noticed that she actually was having trouble walking although I dont recall her making any gestures to the right hand side of her tummy, which would have probably alerted me a bit more to the possibility of appendicitis. I woke my other kids up and we got right in the car and to the emergency room. When I got there she was unable to sit still, screaming, couldnt walk, it was terrible! they gave her morphene for the pain and she settled right down, then as she woke up, the complaints had stopped about the pains in the tummy but she looked extremely weak and sick. Its something i could have confused coming out the other side of gastro with if i hadve seen this happen earlier that morning, as she was not complaining about her tummy any more, it occurred to me that if i hadnt gotten her up there, at this point I would have thought that she was back ok again and just recovering from her tummy bug as she looked weak and pale.. I've been told that at this stage it is likely that the appendix must have burst as the tummy discomfort, although still present, wasnt as sharp as before for her. They took her to ultrasound to see what had happened and the theatre staff came bursting in when they had gotten her blood test results.. my daughters appendix had actually burst! and she was quickly becoming very ill.. if she hadnt have been at the emergency room at the time this happened they dont know how she would have pulled up..

I dont know what other mums ideas on this are, but i seriously thought that children her age didnt have problems of this nature and wanted to raise awareness with other mums to check for signs even in the little ones, once its burst its a time bomb and their symtoms change again to sickly and weak instead!

Before a child is old enough to talk or explain the nature of their pain.. here are some ways you can do some tests to see if its likely that they have appendicitis..

* lie the child on their back, lifting each of their knee towards their chest, one hand slightly on their tummy, you will feel it tightening as they push against the pain, also ask them if it hurts, even if its just a nod, its still helpful to you.

* Laceys heart rate went right up to over 150 bpm as i watched the O2 saturation monitor and heart rate that the nurse put on her.. heart rate will rise dramatically with intense pain in any child, keep in mind that children have a certain heart rate for their ages and can be much faster when they are younger so perhaps look up a website on what is a normal heart rate for a resting child of the age you are enquiring about.

* The inability to walk comfortably on her right leg was my most prominent sign, she didnt want to walk, and then wanted to be picked up, but using her tummy muscles to try and latch on koala style to my hip she again was in pain.. limited use of a childs right leg, is also something that you can watch for.

* If you are thinking the child has a gastro or tummy bug (and it may well be the case) think of the usual signs the child has with a tummy bug and if its a first time, see if there is other obvious symptoms like the runs or dehydration. Lacey was wetting her bed everytime she slept and able to drink fluids quite well in the first 24 hours, this wasnt really consistant with most of my kids as they usually drink and then throw up, and then its repeated until they are recovering, by the time they are at the stage where they can eat an icey-pole, its likely the pains in the tummy might have subsided by then.. make a note that if the eating part improves, the stomach pains shouldnt get worse after that. They might still be present, but ask yourself if the tummy pains the child experiences is making them more uncomfortable and whingey or they are complaining less and becoming more comfortable instead.. If its the latter, its likely to be a good sign that its nothing to worry about.

Shes managed to amaze all the staff up at the hospital with her fast recovery and actually discharged in good health now only 72 hours post op.. I hope my experience helps another parent to be vigilant, I was really naive and feel quite thrown by it all. I asked heaps of the nurses and doctors how these children usually present at the emergency room and what sort of things to look out for. I went over the signs that i noticed and asked which ones were probably more likely to give away the diagnosis so that  i could write it down here at minti.

Wishing all of you the best

Cheers from Mel xx