Laura Lynn's hospital adventure

Our beach trip ended with a trip to the doctor that ended with a trip to the hospital.  Before we went to the beach, the girls had gotten eaten up with mosquitoes.  The beach water did wonders for most of their bites.  However, by Saturday, Laura Lynn complained about a bite on her leg.  I don't know if she got it at the beach or if it was one of her older ones that hadn't healed all the way.  I put some good cream on it and didn't think much more about it.  Sunday evening she complained again and it did appear red.  Again, I put the really good antibiotic cream that we had and didn't think more of it.  On Monday morning as we were packing to leave, she complained about it again.  I looked again and this time I felt it and it had some fever in it.  I decided then that as soon as we got home I would call and get her an appointment.  

We got home about 3:30 and I had her in the doctor's office by 4:30.  We had to go to our downtown office of our pediatrician because our doctor was booked.  The doctor that saw her was wonderful!  She talked so sweet to her and gave her stickers and rings.  She tried to get some of the "stuff" out of it for a culture, but unfortunately not much came out.  She said that she had a feeling that it had gotten so infected that it had created a membrane around it that would require surgery.  She started her on an antibiotic and said to come back no later than Wednesday morning.  I was to bring her first thing so that if it required surgery, we could go straight over to the hospital.

She told me that if it got worse--she ran fever or couldn't walk on it--to bring her on in.  

So, by the time we got home and got her prescription filled, she didn't want to walk on her leg.  I had to bring her supper to her on the couch.  She was quite pathetic.

That night she slept with us and I gave her tylenol for her fever.  In the middle of the night, she was burning up with fever.  I called the doctor and the doctor that was on call was the doctor she had seen.  She told me to bring her in first thing.

We had her at the office at 8:30 that morning.  The doctor saw us and said she had already spoken to the surgeon and we would be seen soon after getting across the street to the hospital.  We were over at the children's hospital by about 9:30 and they immediately took us on back to the surgery center.  Laura Lynn got to wear a cute little hospital gown and was able to be pushed around by her daddy in this cool car.

 

 They took her back around 11:00 for her surgery and we only waited about 30 minutes at the most for her.  Before we knew it, they called me back to sit with her in the recovery room.  I held her and gave her a popsicle and juice.  

They decided to admit her so that she could have IV antibiotics.  When it was time to take her to her room, they let me stay in the chair holding her and they pushed me to her room.  I hadn't been pushed around a hospital since I was pushed around after she was born.  We got in our room and this is how she looked...

After a little while and especially when someone brought her another stuffed animal (this made 3 since we got to the hospital) she perked up and colored while she watched a Dora DVD.

She did really good that night in the hospital.  Every time she had to potty, I picked her up, wheeled her IV in the bathroom and helped her out.  By the time we left, my back was killing me.  But, it was certainly worth it to help my little angel out.

The next morning, the nurse came in to clean her wound and this is what it looked like.

They basically gave her two puncture wounds and went in and cleaned out the infection.  They left this red cord in her leg so that it could continue to drain until it was taken out.  We had to change her bandage twice  a day.  We were home by lunch the next day.

Overall, we had a great experience at the Children's Hospital.  They were all very sweet and helpful to us during our stay.

I was so grateful when they took the IV out so that she could use her little hand again.  Mama took her a week later for me so that she could have her cord removed.  She has healed great and we are so glad that it is all behind us.  

The result of the culture:  a very bad STAPH infection.  It wasn't Mersa, but it was another staph.  So, we now know what to look for and to make sure we clean our boo boos very good.  We also learned to quit scratching so much when we have an itch.  People carry staph on their body all the time.  You just don't want it in any open wounds.