Mom....my stomach hurts!

I can't tell you how many times I have heard "Mom, my stomach hurts". All three of my children have told my that at numerous times in their lives. I always (except for this one time) say, show me where it hurts. Well, Abbie had been complaining off on on for a day that her stomach was hurting. Like any good nurse I handed her some Advil and sent her on her merry way. She played basketball, had a sleepover and went to a bridal shower with me. We were at the shower and she came up to me and said "my stomach hurts really bad". I again handed her some Advil. I decided we needed to leave when Emma came up to me and said "Abbie is sick". We headed home and I told her to take a warm bath, thinking her stomach hurting was related to something else. Later that evening I asked her where her stomach was hurting and she pointed to her right side. The nurse in me kicked in and said we need to go to Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta. On the way there she started crying and moaning how much longer was it going to be before we arrived. I felt so bad!! I hurried as fast as I could and we started counting down the minutes it would take to get there: 15 minutes honey; Abbie, we are almost there; Okay sweetie, 5 minutes, we are almost there. It was the longest ride to CHOA that I have ever driven! Bless her heart, she couldn't even stand when we got there. I threw my keys at the valet guy! I picked up my 5 foot 1 inch and 98 pound baby and carried her to the nearest wheelchair. When we got inside she looked at the estimated waiting time and cried, "I can't wait an hour and fifteen minutes". I assured her that she would not have to wait that long. The triage nurse handed me a number and said have a seat. The mother bear in me kicked in and I said "really?? You are kidding me right?" She then took a second look at Abbie and said "let me go get a nurse"! I wanted to say,"I thought you were a nurse", but I held my tongue and focused on Abbie. We got taken right back and the doctor came in very quickly and determined that more than likely she did have appendicitis. She ordered some morphine and blood work for her. I was so thankful that on the THIRD attempt they finally got an IV site and Abbie was finally able to get some relief. Mother bear almost came out again!! Well, the lab work was not showing any abnormalities so the doctor ordered a CT scan.
The result confirmed our suspicions that she did in fact have appendicitis. She was taken to the floor and was going to be prep ed for surgery. She was resting comfortably when they came and took us down to the surgery floor. She had laproscopy surgery and had her appendix removed through her belly button. She thought that that was really weird. We came home the next day. She is doing awesome and is BEGGING me to go to school on Friday for a couple of hours so she can see her friends before summer break. She is doing so well that we are considering it. She has been such a trooper!