Andrew’s Appendectomy

In 1993 I was traveling for work to a big meeting to launch a sales force I had sold to a large pharmaceutical company in northern New Jersey—a couple of hours from our house. John called me early in the week to say that Andrew was not feeling well. His stomach was upset. I said well maybe keep him home from school. The pain got worse as the week progressed but the pediatrician said it was probably a stomach virus. By then I was coming home the next day and said I would take him to the pediatrician when I got home.

I came home late that night to find Andrew lying on the sofa saying that he felt a little better. He had a fever but was comfortable so I decided to wait until the next morning to take him to the pediatrician. I was exhausted, and of course angry, that Andrew was sick. In my view of the world at that time, you only got sick because you were acting out an emotional problem, or better yet not acting out but being overcome by it. I marched him into the doctor’s office, telling him to step on it. 

Once inside we were seen quickly and the doctor determined Andrew to be a surgical emergency. His rock hard abdomen, history of fever with intense abdominal pain, followed by some improvement of the pain was quickly diagnosed as a ruptured appendix. We went immediately to the hospital where Andrew was taken to the operating room for an emergency appendectomy.