Children’s Hospital, Kindness, and a Successful Surgery

My grandson, Nico, is recovering from an appendectomy that took place the day before yesterday. He woke up in the middle of the night with sharp pain in the lower right side of his abdomen, and his parents rushed him to Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. After a series of tests, including a CT scan, the doctors confirmed he had appendicitis. Because of the risk of infection, they administered antibiotics for several hours before surgery.

Sarah mentioned she hoped she would like the surgeon, and sure enough, he turned out to be wearing a Buc-ee’s lanyard and was a graduate of Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. That connection gave her instant reassurance that her sweet boy was in capable hands—and he was. The laparoscopic surgery went smoothly, and Nico was home by early afternoon the next day.

Now he is resting comfortably, spending his time drawing, watching TV, and looking forward to being back on the soccer field with his club team. Sarah said the entire Children’s Hospital team was “ridiculously nice,” making the whole experience as positive as such a scare could be.

I want to offer a big hallelujah for modern medicine, which has transformed a condition that once routinely claimed lives into a low-risk surgery with a next-day recovery at home.

Here are a few photos of Nico from the past couple of days:

Getting antibiotics before the surgery. Clearly, they had lots of fun stuff to keep Nico busy.