anyways…

Is Kim getting appendicitis? Doctor says she may or may not be getting it. May be scar tissue stuff he says. Yesterday she had a low-grade fever of 99.7, positive rebound tenderness at McBirney’s point and positive Rovsing’s sign. Additionally, she has had increasing abdominal tenderness, especially on moving bowels or passing flatus. Today, she is worse. Her abdominal pain is constant and worsening, she is fatigued, dizzy and sometimes nauseous. Rebound tenderness and Rovsign’s sign persist. The blood work from yesterday came back with elevated WBC and negative XR studies. CT Scan is ordered for Friday. I think she should go back today. The pain is not excruciating, but still. She continues to work and push herself. Prayers are appreciated.

So, Kim is home today. She came home a few hours ago. After her prednisone (steroid) treatments starting yesterday, as well as antibiotics and rest…she turned a corner. She’s pretty much back to herself today. Her sore throat is much better. Swelling is down, but not gone. Spirits are up - and we notice it! Welcome home, Kim!

So this morning, Kim looked terrible. She even tells me that she doesn’t remember seeing Mattae and Rosie. She was still feeling poorly, sleepy, etc. She told me that she didn’t get any morphine since yesterday and I asked her if she was still in pain. She said yes, 10/10. On my way out, I talked with her nurse. The nurse tells me that Kim got pain medications after I left and in the night. She also told me that Kim was confused in the night. Sooooo…the Doc hadn’t seen Kim at that point. It is true that Kim refused pain medication all day. The doc finally visited and ordered steroids to reduce swelling and help her get better. They relocated Kim’s IV because it was in a painful spot for her. Her first steroid load dose was around 2pm. I visited her at 3pm. She was asleep when I arrived, but she woke up 15 minutes later. She was a new person. She got up, straightened herself, talked and wanted supper  ordered. She hadn’t eaten in a few days, so this was a change! She drank some water and talked. Her throat was a lot less sore and she could swallow. The pain was down, the swelling started to decrease and she was returning to good health. I left at 4:30 and by that time, she was certainly seeing light at the end of the tunnel. She’ll be getting steroid doses periodically until tomorrow. I think she’ll probably be discharged in the afternoon. More news on her tomorrow.

So Kim’s in the hospital. She has tonsillitis and her throat REALLY REALLY hurts. Last night she said she’d rather have a baby - that’s how much pain she was in. The morphine barely touched it. Her pain was a 10 out of 10 (10/10) and the morphine only helped it go down to a 9/10. In the afternoon, the morphine helped it go down to 6/10 to 7/10. Now, it’s back up ato a 10/10 with or without morphine. Without morphine, though, she feels all the other pain in her head and shoulder…the morphine helps that go away. She still won’t drink or suck on ice chips. She’s sleepy and feels terrible from the pain. The Dr. says she’ll be discharged after she can drink and eat, and manage her pain. They don’t know why her throat hurts so much or what cause the tonsillitis. The CT scan revealed no abscess and only confirmed the tonsillitis. Blood work is normal. Her mono spot test came back negative. Soooo…she sleeps and waits at the hospital. Someone told me that it’s possible the doctors should consider a tonsillectomy. I don’t know…they haven’t said anything about that. If you want to call and say hi, the number at the hospital is 207-778-6031 - ask for Kim Smith’s Room. Don’t expect her to sound good or say much to you, but I’m sure she’ll like to hear you say hi and say things like, "boy, the weather’s great here at ______!" She would love visitors, too! Melissa came tonight…thank you! We love you!