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Fast Hospital In and Out
Our 10 yr old begin complaining of stomach pain after refusing a bite of his favorite pizza Sat. evening. He rarely complains or refuses a favorite meal, so with no pain abatement by bedtime, his dr. dad examined him and decided a trip from Boulder to the Denver Children's Hospital was in order. Acute appendicitis was the diagnosis and successful surgery occurred mid-day Sunday. He was released from the hospital Sunday evening.
While we are so grateful for the immediate hospital admission and next day surgery, I was surprised that he wasn't kept overnight following the surgery.
I don't know if this is the usual protocal following appendix removal but wonder if the increase in Covid-19 hospital admissions might have been the reason for no overnight stay?
Our family is so thankful that our little guy is doing well and that this happened at a time when he could be admitted and treated quickly and successfully.
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I think this is the new normal with hospital stays. My brother-in-law had shoulder surgery and they released him the same day he went in at 6 a.m. in the morning and he was release by noon.
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1 Reaction@fiesty76 - Great that your 10 year old got such quick care! That’s why he was discharged the next day. If the appendix has not ruptured, he will be fine- especially since they do laparoscopic appendectomies now.
My son had a similar story- he had a stomach virus this time of year when he was 16. When he felt better he ate fried chicken ... That night he came to me with stomach ache. This parent doctor also checked him out- nothing found and assumed it was the chicken. A couple of hours later he returned with worse pains. When I felt his stomach, the pain had moved to the right lower area. So- off we go to ER. Surgery fairly soon, laparoscopic. He was discharged later that day.
They do the same for a lot of orthopedic surgery nowadays.
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2 ReactionsThe various specialties within the Denver Children's Hospital had Social workers that typically talk with the parents ... I'm sure if you have questions that those social workers are available..
Thank you for your response and reassurance, @astaingegerdm. I was surprised that laparoscopy wasn't done for our little guy...no idea for the reason for not choosing that but know the dr. dad must have been comfortable with whatever the explanation. My daughter reported that the incision was "glued" so no removal of stitches would be required. Good to hear from another who has had a similar experience and that all went well for both of our boys.
@ken82, Thank you for that information. Both sil and daughter gave high marks to the Denver Children's Hospital for their care of our little guy from start to finish. I appreciate your response and happy to report that our youngest is recovering well.
@fiesty76 that’s great that the boy is doing so well and that it was handled so quickly. I had a similar experience with stomach pains when I was 5 and my parents brought me right over to my uncle who was our family doctor. An immediate admission to the hospital followed by an emergency appendectomy happened, but back then I was in for 10 days! Those were the days.
I still remember that my teddy bear smelled of ether for a long time afterward!
JK
@fiesty76 - That’s interesting- maybe they weren’t sure that the appendix had not burst open. That requires open surgery/ plus more days in hospital on antibiotics. He should feel better soon, tired maybe.
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1 Reaction@astaingegerdm, Your idea Is probably the reason for the appendectomy incision. Thank you. One of the amazing qualities of the young is that they can bounce back so much faster than adults. Think the whole family was fatigued from the stressful emergency weekend but all are back to more usual routines now. Thanks for yours and others' responses.
Not sure. Might've had something to do with insurance and whether there was a high enough probability that the hospital was going to be, or not get, paid. Ideally, every patient gets the best care and treatment as possible but that's just not always the case. It's definitely important for communities, including but not limited to hospitals, to generate as much revenue as possible while putting the care and needs of the patient above and before anything else. I don't see all the details maybe in your post but maybe ask next time in the moment if <insert patient name here> can spend the night at the hospital.