The Hospital Stay

We’ve had quite a week! Monday was the longest day I may have ever experienced. And I might add that one day at the hospital feels like a week!

Let me back up…

Saturday evening we noticed what looked like a little pimple on Raelyn’s bottom during a routine diaper change. I smeared a little hydrocortisone on it and made a mental note to keep an eye on it.

Sunday we had a busy day and Raelyn happily played and napped normally. During the Colts game she enjoyed crawling around and playing with her toys. At one point in the evening she laid down on the floor and started whining. I picked her up and noticed she seemed really hot. We took her temperature and sure enough it was 101.4. We gave her a dose of Tylenol and some good cuddle time. At bedtime, we saw that the little pimple had turned a deep purple color and was very hard (not to mention PAINFUL for Raelyn).

Monday morning her temperature was gone.  I took Raelyn to her pediatrician where he took a swab of the fluid from the spot and prescribed a strong antibiotic for the infection. We stayed home that day and she did a lot of resting.By late afternoon, her temperature came back and a dose of Tylenol did not bring it down. Mark got home from work and we checked the spot and found swelling from her bottom to her hip and down her right leg. Not only swelling, but everything was bright, bright red. After a quick call to the pediatrician on call we ended up at the ER.

The ER doctor was thorough and contacted a pediatric surgeon to come and check her out too. It was determined that she would be admitted, receive a few rounds of IV antibiotics, and surgery scheduled for the morning to drain the abscess. Diagnosis: abscess with staph infection. 

As Raelyn’s mom, it was heartbreaking to hear her scream each time someone examined her tender area. It was difficult to comfort her as they tried 3 times to put the IV into her tiny veins. No amount of singing or stroking her cheeks seemed to be enough.

Finally around 11pm we were admitted to a pediatric room. Then we had a new round of nurses and doctors checking her vitals and getting her situated. I think it was 1am before we all went to bed for a fitful night of sleep.

Nurses were scurrying around the room around 6am. Raelyn’s fever had gone up again but she couldn’t have any Tylenol because of the surgery. We used cool wash clothes to try to make her more comfortable.

She was wheeled to a staging room in the surgery wing. We waited with her, rocked her, sang to her, and did a little crying as we prayed over her.

The anesthesiologist spoke with us explaining his role in the procedure and the pediatric surgeon spoke with us again too.  He reassured us it would be a quick procedure. Once Raelyn was wheeled away to surgery we sat in the waiting room. The surgeon was right, within a half an hour he was back to chat with us. He explained what he did during the procedure, that he would continue the IV antibiotics, and things we can do at home and daycare to prevent infection.

Something I realized about about pediatric surgeon’s is that they not only need to be good with the little ones but also really good with parents. Dr. Cavett is amazingly skilled with both.

Raelyn spent most of Tuesday in and out of naps and holding her favorite blankie.

Wednesday morning she woke up in good spirits and asked for some reading material. ;)

 

She even ate her favorite breakfast of peach yogurt!

Most of Monday and Tuesday she was not interested in being held and was most comfortable just laying in the crib. Wednesday she was antsy in the crib and was happy to nap in mommy’s lap. She even got a sponge bath and hair washing. All the nurses and doctor’s commented on her curls and “fancy” bow that day.

As the day progressed she continued to show signs of improvement and in the late afternoon she received her walking papers. We were all so happy to be heading home together!

We have a follow up appointment with her surgeon on Monday. He’ll check her recovery progress and will give us an idea of when Raelyn can return to daycare. Her incision needs to be fully healed to prevent new infection.

We’re praising God that Raelyn is A-OK. Give your children extra hugs and kisses tonight and never stop praying over them.