...if I don't visit the ER at least once a month.

I'm sure that this must be true by how consistently the universe conspires to be sure I'm there regularly. Yesterday's visit began with what looked like a pimple on Smiley's chin last Thursday; one of those painful deep zits that cause a big swollen bump. By Friday morning his chin was twice it's normal size and he would scream it you touched it.

Since it was Friday, and a holiday weekend, I knew that if we didn't get him into the doctor that day we'd be stuck going to the ER if he continued to get worse over the weekend. So I quickly got him in with one of the doctors at the ped clinic we use. I had some pressing deadlines at work so I asked Zman to take him in. Zman decided that it would be stupid to take a child to the doctor for a zit and canceled his appointment!

That might have been the end of it but by the time I was ready to leave work for the day, Smiley's lymph node next to his chin was huge and his face was becoming very swollen on that side. I once again called the clinic to get him in (yes they think we are crazy) and got an appointment for later that afternoon. The doctor barley looked at him for declaring that he had impetigo, a very contagious skin infection. Yikes!

So off we went to get antibiotics and super-duper antibiotic soap. We had strict instructions to keep him as isolated from the rest of the family as possible and wash everything he came in contact with. Once home, I barricaded off the living room and set it up as baby play zone with only very easily washed toys and started in on the laundry. We gave him the first few doses of the antibiotic, washed him up good and put him to bed.

Then the screaming began. He was in a lot of pain from the swelling and the Tylenol and motrin we were giving him wasn't even touching it. Zman stayed up almost all night with him while I got what rest I could. Early in the morning we switched. That's when I noticed that the swelling had increased and another lymph node was huge and painfully swollen. I called the doctor on call to see what we should do since the meds he was on obviously hadn't had time to take effect yet. She said we should take him in to the ER... the one thing I was trying so studiously to avoid.

My mom watched the girls while Zman slept; I don't think he even heard we when I went in to tell him I was taking the baby to the hospital. Anyone who has been to the ER knows that you had better pack extra patients because nothing happens quickly there. Nothing was as much fun as sitting around for hours in a room you wouldn't want to put your child down on with a squirmy, sick, miserable 1 year old!

The upshot of the hole thing was that Smiley has a staff abbess on his chin. They had to sedate him and cut it open to drain it. I didn't faint. He now has a huge ugly bandage on his chin and will most likely have a huge ugly scar. He is now on two different antibiotics. We will be starting him on probiotics right away. He feels much better. He looks like we've been slapping the him around and we have our 6th month homestudy visit today!

Wish me luck.

posted at 8:36 AM  
Labels: Attachment, Zboy