Like a champ

The last 2 weeks have been rough. Our sweet little girl woke up one morning with an alarmingly swollen neck, so I took the day off from work to take her into the doctor. Our doctor wasn't in the office that day, so (after 2 hours of waiting) we got in at Urgent Care. Both doctors who saw her diagnosed the swelling as an infected salivary gland, prescribed her some antibiotics, and sent us on our way.

Sounded simple enough. So, we got the antibiotics and started pumping them into her. Only a week later, the swelling hadn't gone down much. In fact, it had only gotten worse. This time our doctor was in the office, so off to see Dr. Jackie we went.

After only a few moments of probing our poor little girl's swollen neck, she quickly referred us to the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist here in Roseburg. She pulled some strings and got us in the same day, Monday, and so just like that, we were off to meet Dr. Schreiner.

At Dr. Schreiner's office, he asked a lot of questions, inspected her neck closely, and did an ultrasound. The ultrasound was inconclusive, but he prescribed (a different) antibiotic and asked we come back in a few days to see if it helped at all.

After a rough few days, we returned on Friday to see Dr. Schreiner. Once again, the antibiotic proved ineffective. Her neck was significantly worse- bigger, redder, and starting to take shape. He did another ultrasound, determined it to be filled with mainly fluid and a very swollen lymph node, and ordered a biopsy for the following Tuesday. He wanted to run tests to see if it was Atypical Tuberculosis.

So, we went home and tried not to freak out. On Sunday, we went to Portland to visit family and friends. However, the abscess continued to get significantly worse and to be perfectly honest, quite disgusting. Our normally adorable little girl had a huge, ugly tumor-looking thing on the side of her neck/face.

By Monday morning, it was really starting to freak me out. It was getting a LOT bigger, and was coming to a head. I called Dr. Schreiner and sent him some pictures, and he determined we'd need to operate on it. The original biopsy had turned into surgery: to drain and remove the infected lymph node. He would get her in first thing Tuesday morning.

So we went about Monday as best as we could, distracting ourselves by hanging out with good friends and family. We returned home Monday night, and her abscess looked so bad we didn't know if she would make it until surgery the next morning. Turns out, our hunch was right. Her abscess ruptured in the middle of the night, and by the time we took her in for surgery Tuesday morning, she had a hole in her neck oozing out a disgusting mixture of pus and blood.

I should throw in at this point that Maddie has been a total trooper throughout this whole ordeal. Despite having some sort of bacterial infection and a growing abscess on her neck eventually rupture, she was not fussy about it and did not cry once. She wasn't allowed to eat the morning of her surgery, and even with fluid oozing out of her neck she was strangely calm and cooperative. She was handling it much better than we were, and I hope no other parents out there have to watch their baby get hauled off for surgery.

After 45 long minutes, she was out of the operating room. She had woken up and the nurse brought us back to see her. This was the worst of it all... she was absolutely terrified. She was crying and confused and for a few minutes, completely inconsolable. It might've been the saddest, scariest 5-10 minutes of my life. Finally after nursing her, the sobbing subsided and she eventually fell asleep.

While I was consoling Maddie, Joe was getting the details from the doctor. He drained the remaining fluids, removed the dead/infected skin, and removed most of the infected lymph node. He couldn't remove the entire lymph node because it had swollen so large it was touching a nerve, and he didn't want to accidentally hit the nerve and cause permanent damage to her face. He also inserted a drainage tube and left a hole in her neck, so the infection could heal from the inside out and continue to drain as necessary.

It wasn't long before we were home and Maddie's recovery was underway. The only thing that has made this whole ordeal better is that she has handled it all like a champ. Just 3 hours after her surgery, she was at home playing around, smiling and terrorizing Jack. She lets us clean her drainage tube and change her dressing without a fuss. She still wants to walk, play, laugh, and go on walks outside. Her amazing attitude and lack of self-pity has been a real eye-opener to Joe and I... at what point do we learn to feel sorry for ourselves? Maybe babies have things more figured out than we think.

This morning her follow-up appointment went really well. The drainage tube was removed and the doc said it looks a lot better than he thought it would. She still has a gaping hole in her neck, but the infection might heal sooner rather than later.

So now, we play the waiting game. I am taking the next week off of work to tend to my baby, but she is doing as well as we could hope for. We will play, we will snuggle and we will try to get her better. The biggest lesson I've learned from all of this is to be grateful for EVERY day we spend with our loved ones. Luckily this infection should eventually go away, and she should return to normal with no permanent damage- other than a nasty scar. But it was a real eye-opener. Anything can happen, at any time. The best we can do is be thankful for the good times we have been blessed with, and embrace the tough times with the best attitude as possible.... no self-pity, no "why me?"s, and lots and lots of smiles.

*The pictures below document the progression of Maddie's infection- if you have a weak stomach, you might not want to look:

Day 1

Day 3- The antibiotics seemed to be helping a little

Day 5- Still my happy little hiking buddy :)

Day 9- Getting worse but still smiling

Better angle, uglier pic

Day 11- Getting huge, yet still a happy baby

Just before leaving for Portland... getting pretty nervous at this point

Day 12- Getting nastier by the hour now

Starting to come to a head and turning really red

My poor baby :(

Day 13- Getting so gross... surgery was scheduled for the next day

Just hours before it ruptured (while sleeping in her crib)

Day 14- Post-surgery nap

Sweetest little face

Jack taking care of his sick baby sister

And Maddie loving every minute :) 

Just a few hours after surgery, and she was smiling and playing again

Aw, she loves her Jack

Walking around like it's no big deal

My favorite- what a cute little warrior we have on our hands :)

 The aftermath... her incision with the drainage tube out. What a trooper.