The Longest Week Ever

Last week was one of those weeks I would just like to forget.

It started out with a visit to the pediatrician to look at my daughter's neck where the big lump mysteriously appeared the previous Thursday.  I had a feeling we would be going to the hospital even though I didn't say anything, because it was starting to get red and she was getting more and more cranky and upset when the lump was touched.

As I suspected the doctor sent us to the ER.  From there things seemed to fly by.  We were only in the empty waiting room 10 minutes (although the ER parking lot was full).  From there she was weighed and measured, then sent to a private ER room.  2 different people came in and it was decided that the lump was full of pus and surgery was needed to drain the pus and heal the area.  A nurse came in to start her IV.  By this point things are moving so fast I am just keeping up.  My daughter was still traumatized by the blood draw the week before so the IV insertion was not a pleasant experience for her.

From what the doctors in the ER were saying, I was expecting a 2 day hospital stay.  The plan was to get an ultrasound of her neck to make sure there is only pus in the lump, then surgery to drain it on Tuesday.  When the transporter came to bring us to her room/cell, I got to ride with her to keep her calm.  The ultrasound was an hour or two later and it took me, my husband, and another nurse to hold her down while the tech completed the ultrasound on my daughter.  The rest of the day was filled with doctors coming in and pushing the lump, making her scream in the process, and saying, yeup, it's full of pus.  No, really?  I thought it was full of milk!  GEEZ!
Tuesday morning arrives and we prepare for surgery.  It was obvious that the lump was really bothering her as she wasn't her normal bubbly self.  As we rolled down to surgery (again with her in my arms) I think she could tell we were going to fix her boo-boo.  When we got into surgery she was clinging on to me, not even going to her daddy.  The nurse gave her a mild sedative, and she was a happy girl again...until we got to the doors where mommy and daddy had to stop, then she started crying and holding her arms out for us.

The surgery did not take long.  Of course that was when I was dealing with a person who decided to start some gossip knowing I was not at my computer to deal with any of it.  It was annoying and rude and I was not in the mood for it.

We were called into consultation room about 40 minutes later and the surgeon said everything went great and they are sending a culture off to see what the infection was so we know how to treat it.  She then explained she was putting 7 different knots in gauze and stuffing them in my daughter, and she planned to gradually remove a few dots each day to allow it to heal from the inside out.  We will be here until about Thursday to accomplish this.  When we finally went back to see her I could hear her crying "MOMMEE."  I held her and comforted her even though the nurse insisted she was too out of it to know what was going on.  We were rolled back up to her room where her mamaw and grandma were waiting.  Olivia was not about visitors so she refused to let anyone hold her except mommy.  Eventually grandma left.  Later that day we had more visitors, and Olivia was awake and eating but not in the mood for company. 

By Wednesday, it was quiet.  The surgeon's resident came in at 6:20 to remove the gauze and did so without warning, causing my daughter to scream.  Later when she was up and ready to play I learned that we could not leave the room because of the "infection risk" she presents so we are stuck.  We didn't get many visitors that day and spent a lot of play time together.

Thursday was getting a little frustrating.  Again the morning started off with the resident ripping out more gauze, then nothing.  Fortunately we had more visitors so it wasn't quite as lonely as Wednesday, as we had exhausted most of our time consuming room activities.  I was starting to feel very anxious because I had to work Thursday night, and while the break from the hospital was a nice idea, I did NOT want to leave my baby.  My mother in law was staying with her, so I knew she wasn't alone, but that did not calm my anxiety about leaving her at the hospital.  I did manage to get her some private time in the play room that evening so even though I wasn't there, she could go to a different room for a little while and play, giving her a brief reprieve from her "cell."

Driving home to shower and get ready to work felt like my first day back to work after maternity leave.  I almost called and canceled as I was getting ready because I wanted to get back to her.  I went to work and headed straight to the hospital, around 12:30am.  Olivia was laying on the couch with mamaw, so rather than moving her to the crib I just let her lay with me the whole night.  Fortunately my nurse knew better than to even question me for letting her sleep with me.

Friday morning started with thankfully the LAST visit from the resident.  Once that passed, we both went back to sleep until almost 10:00, and when we got up we started getting excited because we knew it was discharge day!  I started packing and ordered her breakfast/lunch.  She didn't eat a lot becuase I think she was too excited.  I packed us up and we finally got to leave.

Walking down the hallway you would have thought Olivia was on a parade.  She was stopping and waving at everyone she passed and was checking everything out.  At one point I had to tell her "come on honey, before they change their minds and try to keep us longer"...that got her moving!

Even though we are home we still have to change her bandage every day and give her an antibiotic 3 times a day.  This antibiotic has become the bane of my existence.  It takes 2 of us to give it to her..one to hold down, the other to shove it down her throat.  We even tried to put flavoring in it, but it didn't do a thing to help the flavor, or the smell for that matter.

We follow up with the ENT on Thursday and hope for good news so she can return to day care and her normal life.  Right now she is dealing with the side effect of severe diaper rash from the antibiotic, so it has not been an easy road for my daughter.

To top everything off, the culture never grew anything, so we may never know what caused the infection in the first place.