Under Staphed

On Sunday morning, Zachary woke up and said that his thumb hurt. I didn’t think much of it, because he often comes up with ploys in an effort to get medicine. I have grown suspicious of his “illnesses.” I figured that I would look at it, not see anything, tell him he doesn’t need medicine and continue with our day. But when he showed me his thumb, I saw this

So, he got a dose of medicine and, after consulting with Twitter and Facebook, we continued about our day. The general consenus was some sort of insect/spider bite. Which seemed pretty reasonable since we were right in the middle of moving and it seemed as if every bug in a five mile radius had decided to come say goodbye. Monday morning he was still complaining about it hurting and it was starting to look a bit worse

The white part was growing, the surrounding red area was growing and his thumb was considerably more swollen than it had been on Sunday night. So I called the Doctor’s office and spoke with the Nurse. She said to ice it, put some meat tenderizer on it, in case it was in fact a venomous bite of some sort, and keep an eye on it for signs of infection. He went to his first day of preschool and his thumb didn’t slow him down at all. But Monday night he woke up a few times crying and saying his thumb hurt. So we knew something needed to be done. We visited the Doctor on Tuesday morning, when his thumb looked like this

The Doctor said it looked like a staph infection, maybe possibly MRSA, and prescribed some heavy duty antibiotics. We were given strict instructions to soak his thumb in warm water several times a day in an effort to draw more blood to the area to assist in the healing process. We were also told to give Motrin for pain & fevers (which he hadn’t had yet), and watch for signs of further infection, such as red streaking running up his hand. He also said that after 24 to 48 hours, and several doses of antibiotics, the infection would look better and the wound would probably start to drain. Gag. By the time we got home, Zach had a 102 degree fever. He’s a rule follower, apparently. He got his first dose of antibiotics at 1pm. At 7pm he projectile vomited all over the wall and floor right outside the bathroom. I gave him an A for effort and an A for style, for an F for timing and aim. I’ve never been so thankful for tile floors and semi-gloss paint. He woke up one more time to throw up that night, was generally uncomfortable and warm, and by Wednesday morning his thumb looked no better. By Wednesday night, his thumb looked considerably worse.

There was some concern that the redness wasn’t decreasing and that the white part was growing, and also getting darker. After consulting with medically trained friends, we decided a trip to the ER was in order. It just wasn’t something we were willing to play around with. So I packed him up, prepared myself for a long night and headed to the hospital. Instead of going to the smaller Hospital a mile from the house we headed to the main Hospital downtown. Mainly because I was fearful that they would want to admit him to administer IV antibiotics, and if that was going to be the case I wanted to be at a facility with a dedicated Children’s Hospital.

He was a trooper, as he always is, and had the ER staff commenting on how adorable and generally awesome he is. It’s hard to argue with that. The Doctor came in to look at his thumb and decided that draining the abscess that had formed would be the best course of action. He also wanted to get an x-ray to make sure that there wasn’t something foreign in his thumb that had caused this whole situation. He also made a joke that I didn’t get until 2 hours later. I think my brain had pretty much shut down by that point. At that point they gave him a few shots in the thumb to numb it, of which he wasn’t a big fan. The seven stickers he got to pick out afterwards seemed to make him feel a bit better. Then we headed to x-ray, which he thought was pretty cool. He was an especially big fan of the 101 Dalmations themed protective lap thingy.

At this point it was almost 10:30pm, and he was starting to get really tired. I was starting to get nervous, because a tired Zachary would be a nightmare to deal with while they cut into his skin and drain the abscess. Understandably. That would be difficult to deal with with a perfectly happy, well rested kid.

We headed back to our room, where he took stock of his sticker stash and talked to me about DS games. And then, suddenly, he was asleep. And within a few minutes he was snoring and completely oblivious to what was going on around him.

 

 

Which turned out to be a blessing, because he was so tired and his thumb was so numb that he didn’t even wake up when the Doctor finally came into the room and drained it. With all of the slicing, poking, prodding and cleaning, he barely even flinched.

After it was over, he curled up and continued his slumber.

 

I was told to keep up with the antibiotic, give him Motrin as needed and follow up with his Doctor in a few days. I picked him up and high-tailed it out of there before he had a chance to change his mind.

Today, he was like a different kid. His thumb didn’t hurt, it is considerably less swollen and red and at one point he said

WHOA! Mommy, I can bend my thumb!

I think draining the abscess was the very best thing they could have done for him. We’re keeping him bandaged, and his thumb still looks pretty nasty, but I feel like we’re definitely on the upswing now. I’m curious to hear what the results of the culture are, but I suppose at this point, it doesn’t really matter.

I’m just happy my goofy kid is back and is going to be okay. And can give you all a “Tip Tap Dancing” lesson.

Related posts:

1. In Stitches
2. A Dylan Update
3. Keeping it Interesting
4. Eye Yai Yai
5. Medical Mysteries