We had a sick day today. Not me but our son. He has had a rough week. Last Thursday, he woke with a round face. I noticed it immediately. His little face was swollen. He said he felt fine. He did not have a temperature and he ate a good breakfast. I did not think to take him to sick walk-ins. After all, he was feeling fine. When I got to work, it hit me. I should have taken him to the doctors. My brain started cycling. I sent his teacher a message. We corresponded. I called the doctor. They said I should bring him in today. Panic. I ride a bus to work. It was noon. I emailed my husband, “call me”. I talked to him and told him about my conversation with our pediatricians’ nurse. I also told him, they had no available appointments that afternoon. They advised us to take him to a walk-in clinic at the Guthrie. I left work early as my husband picked me up on his way home. He couldn’t drive fast enough, for me. Finally, I picked Elliott up at daycare and we went home. John wanted to look at him first. Off to the walk-in. After an hour wait,a 15-minute doctor exam revealed nothing. Wait and see what happens. Was that supposed to comfort me? Really?
Wait. Wait and see. I am a stressed out mother
and waiting is not an option . I did not sleep well Thursday night. Every time I woke up, I got out of bed, grabbed the small flashlight from my night stand and went to check on Elliott. I did not want his face puffing up more. Friday morning, his right eye was swollen as well as his right cheek. I decided to let the kids sleep in since I was going to take him to the pediatric office. I woke them and we got ready for the day. We took Olivia to daycare just in time to catch the school bus. Off to the doctors. We were the second family to sign-in. I opted to see a doctor that has seen Elliott since birth. I don’t like repeating his history. As we were waiting for her to come to the room, I felt his face and felt a swollen gland. I told her that when she came in. She checked his ears, nose and throat then looked at his teeth. A swollen gum. A huge swollen gum. We left with a prescription in hand. Once we had the antibiotic, I gave him his first dose.
Next we called our dentist, as Elliott had a filling a few weeks ago, and although the office is closed on Fridays, he does see people on an emergency basis. Emergency - this was that! The swollen gum as caused by his cavity and drainage. Once the filling was in place, the tooth could not drain, so it found another outlet. Although this outlet was a dead end. He said he’d have to perform a procedure (basically, a kid-size root canal). Uugh!
Stress level just keeps going up. If left untreated, the bacteria could get into his bloodstream which could be very serious, even deadly. Does that make you nervous? I was frantic inside. Although we were taking care of it. We won't go down that road.
Yesterday, we revisited the dentist. Elliott was ready. I was stressed and nervous. I didn’t want him to feel any pain. And amazingly, so far, he had not felt any pain (Dr. P, our dentist, was amazed). He was concerned though because the swollen gum had not responded to the antibiotic. In fact, it looked larger to him. Just what I wanted to hear.
Larger, are you sure? I offered to stay in the room with Elliott but he did not care. I left and sat in the waiting room. I could hear Dr. P talking to Elliott the whole time. He came out and said everything went well. When he removed the filling, a lot of the fluid drained. When I went to the room, I saw a lot of blood in the vacuum-tube. Dr. P gave me instructions and wrote out a new prescription.
Was I feeling better? No. I have to watch Elliott and make sure he doesn’t develop a fever. Here’s to another sleepless night for me. Sorry, that is how I am. My stress level skyrockets when my children are sick. And yet, I and they, survive. Elliott complained about the terrible taste in his mouth. We had to wait 45-minutes for his prescription to be filled (25 minutes longer than we were told). We both wanted to be home. On the way home, I called Dr. P to inquire about the drainage and if he should rinse. Informed and tired, we arrived home. After dinner, Elliott took the first dose of his new antibiotic. I was nervous as he has not taken this one before. All went well. A second dose before bed. He did not sleep soundly but woke up with a smaller “bubble” on his gumline. He wanted to stay home. He was a little sore, tired and still rinsing because of drainage. So we are home for the day. He’s been watching movies and making trips to the bathroom to rinse. A quiet sick day for him.
On the other hand, here’s how my sick day has gone:
Multiple trips down and up the stairs as I wash one load of laundry, put it in the dryer and bring it up to fold. The last load is still drying. One load needs to be folded. Two beds need to be made. I have lots of time left.
Kitchen time. I made pumpkin muffins and with the remaining pumpkin, I made mini-pumpkin scones. I will bake two batches of cookies (chocolate chip and gingersnap) later as well as an apple cake. These goodies will be taken to the small, family-owned business that we worked with on our new kitchen. I am making chocolate chip cookies for Greg, he designed our wonderful kitchen and worked with us on every stage. All of the individuals there have been wonderful so this will be the second of many baked gifts for them.
After lunch, we got out in the fresh air to run Ruddie. He knows we are home so he whines and barks from his kennel and that bothers me. So we ran him a little. He runs, we walk. We throw a ball or Frisbee and he runs to get it. He doesn’t retrieve yet because he doesn’t bring it back to us. He teases us.
And we have had a nice week. Monday and Tuesday were in the mid-50’s. Today it is gray and in the 30’s with a slight breeze. Unseasonable weather. And somethings just aren't right...look at this...
If these daffodils keep growing, then get snowed on,
will I have daffodils in the spring? Well, I am off to spend some time with this...then we go pick Olivia up from school.
Weekend time!
