OMG! I'm so sorry it must have been a horrible nightmare. Glad it's over and he's back at home. I'll be happy to listen to the whole story if and when you feel like it (so I'll know what to add to the list of fears/alert causing things that every mum has in her brain). Meanwhile lots of hugs to your son and well wishes for a quick recovery. And many hugs to you too, for surviving the ordeal, please feel free to rant if it helps you overcoming the scare.

I am glad your son is better.   Sounds like a nightmare.  OMG thank goodness for competent medical peeps!

Hugs!

Hi @HerNameIsBuffy, I'm sure sorry to hear about your son.  It's great he is back home and recovering!  You and your family will be in my thoughts.  

While your son is resting, you should show him your famous MeMe's, I bet he doesn't know his mom is the Queen of MeMe's!

Take care Buffy... 

That sounds awful, Buffy.  Your poor son and poor you.  I'm so glad he is home safely and hope he makes a full recovery soon.

You can rent hospital beds - or can he get comfortable in a recliner?

Oh my gosh, what a nightmare! So glad he's safely home now and I hope his recovery (and yours!) is speedy.

You and your son take the best of care, Buffy. May his recovery be speedy and complete. 

Hope your son feels better soon!

Thanks everyone - he slept through the night last night and today is having a much easier time moving.  He won't be running any 10ks this week - but being able to get out of a chair without assistance is a very big deal right now.

As some of you know he is on the autistic spectrum.  As high functioning as he is it's easy to forget how severely it affects his communication skills when he's out of his element and overwhelemed.  Like many people on the spectrum he's not a huge fan of having strangers up in his personal space, being less than fully dressed in front of said strangers, lights, noises, all kinds of unpleasant sensory stuff going on.  But he was so amazing.  Over the course of the week he became proactive about his pain management and much more comfortable answering questions.  

But he deals with the anxiety by zoning out so there were a lot of one word answers.  I believe everyone is better off with an advocate with them when in emergency situations but in his case its not optional.  Just one example - his appendix ruptured at the junction of appendix and colon which tore his large bowel resulting in not only the infection but fecal matter contaminating his peritoneal cavity.  This is in addition to the large abscess. The risk of sepsis was very high and this is a kid who doesn't feel pain until it's very bad.  Everytime someone would be reassured that he wasn't running a major fever -  I'd remind them that in our family that doesn't mean anything as most of us have had raging infections where med personal were shocked we weren't running high fevers.  Take his temp by all means but it's not indicative of the state of the infection.  I guess my natural inclination to be a redundant, pendantic, pain in the ass came in handy.

So his way of dealing with the anxiety was to withdraw into his head much of the time which was fine...whatever helps....but a week of a silent room except for the beeping and assorted hospital noises leads me to a small confession.

Sorry, family, when I told you no eating anything in his room that wasn't for his benefit as he truly didn't care....it was for mine.  No background noise, no sleep, living on adrenaline and bad coffee plus my misophenia (always in effect - on 11 at that time) would have ended in jail sentence for me for causing you injury if I had to hear you crinkle one more wrapper or hear your tmj jaw pop one more time.  I love you so I sent you in the hall for your safety.

Funny the things you take for granted.  A couple of people asked me who I was and my stupid brain which will find shit funny in the most stressful of times wanted to answer that I was just some random middle aged woman who happens to know his entire medical history, insurance information, and just enjoys helping this nice young stranger to the bathroom.  Most people correctly assumed I was mom.  

He's been comfortably all day and wants wings for dinner.  Little disappointed that he can't have the atomic sauce but it's only been 24 hours since he's back on solid foods so let's not test the plumbing to that extent just yet.

As for me - dead tired but starting to unclench.   It hit me last night as we got home and realized his bed was too low for him to get in and out of until he heals so scrambling to play musical beds I just wanted to collapse.  It's that adrenaline thing - doesnt stick around post threat but I could have used another hour or so last night.  

Wow. Just...wow. That's one hell of a week. I'm really, really glad that he's doing better. If I were in your shoes, I would be so wiped out. Much love to your whole family and hopefully lots of deep, restful sleep as y'all recover.

And I'm suddenly very grateful that my kids don't have a high pain tolerance and let me know about every little owie!

Oh, Buffy.   I'm so sorry.

It sounds as though he is on the mend if he wants to inhale chicken wings but this is such a long haul for everyone.

Unclench, relax, and stop beating yourself up because you are doing a great job.

Hugs and hang in there.

    Whew. That is terrifying. Not sure if I can express this well but I am amazed at how in tune you are with yourself, and son. 

    That sounds like an ordeal. I am glad your son is comfortable and back home. Nothing like sleeping in your own bed. I hope for his continued recovery, and for you to catch your breath, relax and enjoy yourself a bit.

      Sending you big hugs, and good thoughts for your son (from a distance in a non intrusive way) 

Love you b. I'm so glad he's home. By the way, I left another Luna destruction video for him on your phone. It's a good thing the little bitch is cute!

16 hours ago, Destiny said:

Love you b. I'm so glad he's home. By the way, I left another Luna destruction video for him on your phone. It's a good thing the little bitch is cute!

      I'm picturing this in my head, only its Luna instead of Godzilla

    Go Luna!

Oh man, Buffy!  I hope everyone is getting a lot of rest and recuperation time now.  

She's a sock thieving little bitch. I would post the video but haven't gotten around to uploading it anywhere online. 

Just saw this post, so glad to hear your son is on the mend, @HerNameIsBuffy. What a scary time.  

You are a classy lady Buffy. If my former employers called me for a fucking ipad while my son was risking to die I'd probably explain exactly where they could shove it.

Wow! What a terribly scary whirlwind. I am so glad everybody is ok. May there be lots of rest and medically boring days ahead.

Oh my gosh! You and your son have had one scary week. Glad to see he's on the mend. Now get some R&R. And, yeah, maybe he should wait a bit before he subjects his digestive system to atomic wings. 

I'm glad he's on the mend, Buffy. Sounds very terrifying.

I've got a young adult on the spectrum myself. I get it.