Appendicitis Scare

Last night, my Dancing with the Stars viewing (and blogging) was preempted by a trip to the Emergency Room with my 11 year old son. Fortunately, it turned out to be a non-emergency. Likely a stomach virus instead of appendicitis.

But, I did pick up a few tips for telling the difference...

My son's symptoms vs. appendicitis:

* Pain that centers around the navel, then radiates to the right -- he had this, but it was moving between the lower and upper right quadrants. The doc said appendicitis would stay persistently in the lower quadrant.

* Pain when you press the belly that hurts more when you let go -- before the ER he said it hurt more when I stopped pressing, but his pain was never all that bad, he rated it 4 out of 10.

* Low grade fever -- I'm not sure, but I think they said he would have had a higher fever with appendicitis, though not always.

* Pain that aches and gurgles -- When listening with a stethoscope, his tummy was gurgling a lot. She said that's more a sign of virus and appendicitis is usually quiet.

* No appetite, but not really nauseous -- She said the majority of kids with appendicitis would be throwing up at that point (6-8 hours into the pain). There are always exceptions, but his not throwing up was a good sign.

* Weak and wobbly when walking, but not in pain -- Even though he was a little unsteady on his feet, he could walk and even jump up and down without the pain getting worse. Appendicitis generally hurts more with jarring movements.

The doctor tested for strep throat -- which was negative -- because she said strep can cause the lymph nodes in the stomach to become inflamed. His pain seemed to be more around those lymph nodes than near the appendix.

She did say that appendicitis can be difficult to diagnose in the very early stages and his symptoms could still be early stage, but they weren't enough to warrant all the additional appendicitis testing.

So, she sent us home with a list of symptoms to watch for that would mean an immediate return visit -- increased pain, higher fever, throwing up, etc. -- and recommended we follow up with our regular doctor this afternoon.

As of this morning, he's looking much better! Still pale and tired, but the tummy pain is gone. :-)