I am writing this, since I often process crappy stuff by writing about it, and also since I know that my family isn’t reading my blog. A long time ago, my now oldest daughter Natalie (and therefore my wife and I) experienced what was then the scariest day of our life. We almost lost Natalie that time. Earlier this week it all came crashing over us again.
My daughter came home from school complaining about stomach ache. She said that it would probably pass in a bit, but my mind was already racing. We waited for a bit, but the pain didn’t seem natural and wasn’t getting any better. Given her history we weren’t taking any chances, and I convinced my daughter that it is better to go once too many and that she would sleep better tonight if a doctor told her that it wasn’t anything scary. I drove directly to the nearest large hospital, LUKS, and went straight for the emergency room. Meanwhile my wife stayed at home to search for a letter from the Karolinska Hospital describing her prior medical history.
When we arrived Natalie was already in a lot of pain, but her usual brave self. I told the emergency crew about her previous history and they hooked her up to fluids. Meanwhile my wife had found the letter and sent a photo of it to my phone. The emergency crew read it and asked me to email it to them. I believe this made them take this more seriously, which was turned out to be good.
They did an ultra sound, after which they called the surgeons who in turn asked for a CT scan. Whilst waiting for the CT scan to be done, the nurse asked me how I was doing. I must admit that I broke down. As a parent, I guess one of the hardest things you do is to try to stay clear headed and strong for your kids, and try not to show them how scared you are. I was terrified, and all the memories from that day almost 15 years ago came crashing down over me again.
After this we were directed to an emergency room, and they put in a stomach probe through my daughter’s nose. Everyone was friendly and professional, but my heart broke when I heard my daughter ask the nurse “will I die”, and the nurse replied “many things will have to go wrong for that to happen”. That is such a dumb thing to say to very scared 16 year old girl. Natalie looked over at me, absolutely terrified. I tried my best to reassure her and to let her know that nothing was going to happen, and that she was at the best possible place and that she was getting the best possible care.
They tried to blow air through the probe to get things started and gave her fluids and painkillers. They said they wanted to avoid surgery if they could, and wanted to wait to see if the treatment would sort it out. Meanwhile I tried calling my insurance company to ask if there was any way I could stay with her. I was certainly not going to leave her there alone. I couldn’t get through, but luckily I had installed the insurance company app, and it turned out I had a Flex insurance which allowed for “Rooming In”, which meant we got a room for just the two of us and that I could stay with her. We got to the room at 2 am or so. She was still in pain, and it was hard for her sleep with the tubes and lines. She is such a strong kid though.
For a while it seemed like the treatment was improving things a little. My wife gathered some clothes for Natalie and she came over to stay with her, and I went home to take care of the other kids. Then things went downhill. Yesterday they made the decision to perform surgery. They had three options. They said that they would try to do peephole surgery, but that in the worst case they’d have to open her up, with another two options there. If we were lucky it would be over in 15 minutes. She was rolled into surgery around 9 a.m., and we didn’t hear anything back until after 11. My wife got to see her after 12. Apparently there were three separate places where there intestines were obstructed.
Today she is on the mend. She has eaten a little bit of soup, and as far as I know she got to keep it. She’ll likely be in the hospital for a few more days, but it looks like the crisis has been averted for this time. Please, pretty please, let this be the last and final one. I’m not sure I can stand watching her in that kind of pain again.