I Aten't Dead

K’s Tummy Pain

• August 26, 2010 3:00 pm

Last October, K had appendicitis. A real Sunday morning 5am ambulance thing. Thankfully nothing ruptured, the surgery was straightforward, the hospital great and he was back home again after a few days.

He’d recovered enough for us to spend a few days in Ireland in early November and was back at school shortly afterwards. But, in late November, he began complaining of stomach pain across his lower abdomen. Thinking that this was a combination of post-surgery healing, perhaps some pulled muscles and maybe a little bit of attention-seeking, we kept telling him that we’d review the situation after Christmas.

Christmas came and went (thankfully without incident) but the tummy ache didn’t go. He began to have the odd day of school or be sent home early. By late Jan, we began to wonder if we should take him to the local GP. Then, a few days later, all hell broke loose. He was sent home at midday with severe stomach pain. One look at him convinced me that this was serious and it was off to the local A&E.

Seven hours later, he & I re-emerged with an “all clear” but with the promise of further investigations as he was obviously in significant pain. One further A&E visit, an ultrasound scan and multiple visits to a surgical consultant later and we were still none the wiser as to the cause of the pain. By April it had become a daily occurrence with some bouts leaving him visibly drained. Not even the strong painkillers provided by the hospital could touch the pain and the consultant was nonplussed.

Needless to say, by this time he was at home 24/7 — much to the annoyance of the local School Attendance officer who tried to pressure us into sending him to school “even if it’s only for an hour”. Yeh – I’m sure the teaching staff would have loved that!

It’s not as if his academic work would suffer. I home schooled his 2 older brothers for 5 years. The younger of the two didn’t so much as go near a school until he was nearly 7 and only went to school because he wanted to. He’s off to Uni next month having just aced 4 A levels and had 5 Unis virtually roll over and plead “Please come study with us”. So I think it would be fair to say that I not only know what I’m doing when it comes to home ed but that I have the evidence to prove it.

So, despite the pressure, K stayed firmly at home.

Then on Monday, K got to see a Pain Specialist and she suggested the reason for the pain and a solution. She think that nerves in his abdomen were damaged/moved/disrupted — either during the surgery or at a SportsLinx centre about 5 weeks later. Either way, she thinks the nerve ends are now inflamed.

So for the next 2 – 3 months, he has to wear a large lignocaine-soaked dressing on his stomach for 12 hours per day. Specially trained staff will liaise with us by telephone or email during this period to check that everything is OK and that he’s not suffering any ill effects.

We fully intend to try getting him back to school when the term starts next week but, as far as I’m concerned, it will be on a day-to-day trial basis. Any problems and he’ll be back at home again.

And to hell with the School Attendance Officer!

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