Surgery for Shannon

Swollen from all the air that was pumped into her during surgery.

I must admit, to write this, will raise a few questions of my parenting, but those who know Shannon, and me, unsympathetic me, will forgive and move on.  On December 12, Shannon had the usual winter time flu: vomiting and then the diarrhea for a day or so.  Not much eating was going on for Shannon at that time.  After that day, and for the next two weeks, she kept complaining about her stomach hurting.  I told her it was first, from her throwing up and then from having the 'runs' (sorry) and then probably tender from not eating and every other kind of 'mom' advice I could think of.  We would ask if she was having cramps and she wasn't sure if it was time for that and then we asked if she was having BM's and she wasn't, so then we told her she had constipation and that was causing all sorts of problems.  Finally, I took her in to see our family doctor and the she said to try fiber/juices/bran and if nothing else came to, um, pass, to take her to the emergency room.  During all this time, Shannon still had a few days left of school and I didn't want her missing them nor did I want her to miss her finals, so that was always a tension talk waiting to happen and happen it did.  Although she did go to school, 2 of those days were spent in the nurses office finishing finals.  I will say, looking back, that Shannon was not Shannon and she was in a lot of pain.  But I am a mom who says 'Buck it up' often.. Probably more than my kids wanted to hear.  On Christmas day Shan had put up a good front and seemed to have a good Christmas and later Jill told me Shannon was really crying and I said 'That's it! Get to the car!'  I even warned her that she would not complain once about what ever they might ask her to do....pee in a cup - do it with a smile - poop in a cup - smile again, enema - let me just roll over for you, etc.  So off we went.  It was about 4 o'clock on Christmas afternoon.  We waited a little bit in the ER waiting room and then ushered back to the observation room.  They took blood and made Shan pee in a cup (smiling the whole while)!  The tests came back fine.  No urinary tract infection, no kidney problems.  Nothing.  An ultra sound test revealed liquid in her uterus so they thought maybe a ovarian cyst had burst, but it shouldn't be causing her this much pain.  Finally a C-scan (?) was ordered and by 10:30 that night we found out her appendix had ruptured and she had a lot of infection pockets throughout her abdomen.  She would need surgery soon.  They were thinking of sending her to Carden's Children's Hospital, but they got a doctor to accept her case here at Gateway Banner and so her surgery was hopefully going to be at 8am in the morning.  Huh?  Ruptured appendix?  Emergency, right?  'Oh, lets wait another 9 hours to operate, she can handle it'. I was shocked.  Anyway, 8am came and went, 10:30 scheduled time came and went, possibly noon, um, no, it came and went, and finally at 2pm she was wheeled in to the OR.  The doctor had told us that morning it would probably take 30 minutes, or if worse case scenario happened, it would be 1 1/2 hours.  It ended up being over 3 hours.  Her small intestine had been 'compromised' and basically tattered from the poison and 6 inches needed to be removed.  Shannon had been a very sick young lady.  Most of the staff here have said how physically strong she must have been to put up with the pain.  I'm sure part of it was because she was afraid of her mom telling her to 'buck it up'.      

She had several of her friends come by and visit her the day after surgery.  She has been asked to walk everyday, but she WAY over did it here.  She was trying to be too strong around her friends and then paid for it later.  

Sweet flowers from her Grandma Hansen.