Upon admittance to ER on 10/13/13, they feared appendicitis and said that we had a choice between an ultrasound and a catscan. Being interested in reducing her radiation exposure, I chose to do an ultrasound. I had been told that the ultrasound appeared normal, but we were admitted anyway. The plan was to observe her for 48 hours with a possible appendicitis. It was not until later the next day that I learned that the ultrasound did not visualize the appendix at all. Monday morning, 10/14/13, she began to decrease off methylpredisolone more quickly and went back on Neupogen injections. Her abdominal pains came and went. They intensified after meals. Her BMs were regular and frequent. Tuesday, 10/15/13, was a good day for us. She played in the playroom at the hospital and enjoyed us taking turns beating each other playing Connect Four for hours. We also had a blast together playing on the iPad and advancing to higher levels of Brickshooter. Inside, I was quite concerned. She had been favoring her right side and grimacing on and off when I would even just lightly touch her abdomen. It was assumed that she needed to have a BM since she had not since Monday evening and the implication was that her abdominal pains were caused by her lack of BM. That did not make sense to me however because she had abdominal pains on Saturday and Sunday and Monday but was very regular those days. Also, on Tuesday, I gave her the Neupogen injection for my first time. It was quite an ordeal. She really is a strong willed child. Wednesday, 10/16/13. Naomi slept terribly last night. It was like before she had ever had a transfusion. She moaned in her sleep and was out of it. I knew her rbcs and hemoglobin were going to be low on her morning labs. Sure enough, they were and a rbc transfusion was ordered. The good news for today was that our deductible was met now and so our prescription costs will be less through the end of the year. Yippee! After breakfast, Naomi went right back to sleep. She had no energy. I was sad because I missed playing with her. Lunch came and she ate a small bit. Afterward, like clockwork, she was in pain again. I was getting really concerned now. Again, we were told that she just needed to poop. Nurses tried to give us a laxative. I agreed to prune juice and a heat compress. Within 30 minutes of applying a heat compress, she pooped and said her she felt like it hurt less but still felt weird. The laxative that she had been given was mixed with hot chocolate and sat there untouched. She would not drink it. She had a burst of energy and we played at the playroom briefly. Before long, she was ready to lay back down. Her blood transfusion was begun and I went home for a few hours while her Daddy stayed with her. I left while she was eating dinner. While gone, my husband told me she had been in constant pain and was wailing. One nurse, while trying to give a laxative, again, said, “Girlfriend, you just need to poop.” When my husband told me this on text, I was furious! The nurses contacted the doctor and a catscan was scheduled for 11pm. I packed up at home and headed back over to the hospital to be there with Aaron while it was done. The scan was moved up to 9:30pm. The scan showed a fluid sac in her lower right abdomen but the contrast did not move all the way down to the appendix. So the scan was to be repeated in two hours. They believed that her appendix had ruptured at some point and an abscess was formed. Once the second scan was complete, we were told that the contrast did move down to the appendix and that the surgeon would be in in a few hours to re-evaluate the scans and probably do surgery to drain the abscess. The plan for this evening is for us to manage her pain. She has been sleeping soundly on her own for about 90 minutes now. We have pain medicine ready for her whenever she wakes and needs it. It will be a miracle if I sleep at all…..