Thursday, September 04, 2008

My boy had his appendix removed tonght!

What a day! My friend Mary who is visiting, and I have been enjoying our time together so much! We have gone to the South Hill Botanical Manito Gardens for a picnic, went downtown for "Pig Out in the Park" on Monday night, we sat and talked with Greg last night, we have slept in and had coffee and tea together. Nice, relaxing...

Today I found out that Jesse had been naucious during the night. He had stomach pain that went from the middle and settled on his right side. And that kept getting worse. Mary looked online and we figured he was tracking with all of the appendicitis characteristics. So I took him to the urgent care center, and when the doctor walked in, it was his friend! Jesse works sometimes at a certain Starbucks store, and this nice man had come in last week and they had talked for 10 minutes or so about Jesse going to Africa and about their faith. Steve Johnson had also been to Africa, so they enjoyed their conversation. Jesse had no idea he was a doctor or where he worked. And Jesse could have been given one of 3 dotors today, and ended up with his"Starbucks Buddy!"

After getting examined there, from noon to 3:00, with 95% certaintly that it was indeed appendicitis, our insurance carrier made us go to another clinic for a CT scan of his appendix. We were there until almost 5:3o, until the radiologist had read the scan. Jesse was able to sleep for a while until we got the word that he did have appendicitis. In another 1/2 hour we were at the hospital and heading for his room on the 5th floor.

He still felt awful and it was sad to see him in so much pain. He met all the doctors and answered all the questions they had and finally at 8:00 they did the surgery. It took about 1 hour. Dr. Olson said that half of his appendix was inflamed and infected and that it was so great that we brought him in before things got worse. Jesse did well and was awake afterward when Mary and I headed back home. Greg had come too, and we got to be with Jesse while they got him ready to go in. All his doctors were excellent and kind and did a great job.

Tomorrow they expect that he will be able to come home. The procedure was laprascopic which makes it much quicker healing. His dreams of X-country this fall are gone, but he should be able to participate in his tumbling PE class in 2-3 weeks, and ease back into school and work as soon as he feels able.

We are so thankful that this happened now and not next spring when he hopes to be in Africa for several months. God is certainly looking out for Jesse and showed that in so many ways today! I think I will send Mary to Coure 'd Alene tomorrow for a restful day by the beautiful water.

I got to instant message with Allison a little tonight from South Korea. She has her own classroom and is getting into the swing of it. She is struggling with the very spicy food. She sais she is doing OK, but I know she is lonely and doesn't get the computer line into her appartment until September 20th. I know she would appreciate your prayers.

Well, I am tired, but really wanted to get this news into my blog so you could pray for my boy to heal quickly. Since Mary is a hospital Chaplain, we were pretty excited that we could take her with us to do all the praying and encouraging she is so great at in that setting. That was ironic to have here here when this happened to Jesse.

I wish you a good sleep the next time you are planning to do that. And thank you for your prayers and concern. God Bless you! Nancy Fritz 509-990-8465

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