On Friday morning, Stephen showed Rich his toe (second toe on his right foot) and told him that it hurt. It was really red right at his top joint. Rich said he just figured it was his shoe making a blister on his foot.
Friday afternoon, about 3pm, he showed me the toe and it had a puss sac on it and he said that it was getting worse. I put some Prid Salve on it to draw out the infection. About 5pm, I asked to look at it again and there were two red lines beginning to creep out of it, up his foot. At 8:00pm the lines were almost to his ankle and I decided to go to the ER because it was growing fast. Of course, Rich wasn't home, so it was me and the kids.
The ER gave him two shots of antibiotics and a prescription to take home and said that should do the trick. They also lanced it open and took a culture of it to find out what was going on with it. They drew a black line where the lines were and said to make an appointment for the next day with our doctor so she could see if the medicine was helping.
Went home, slept.
Woke up the next morning and made the appointment for 3:45. Then, I had to take my car in to get the back hatch looked at. When I got home, Stephen was awake and I looked at the foot again. The streaks were even longer than at the ER and almost up to his knee! I called the doctor back and asked if I should go back to the ER or come in earlier since it was obviously moving fast. The nurse talked to the doctor and said to go immediately to Children's Hospital and she would call ahead to let them know we were coming.
Well, during all of this, Richie develops a migraine. I try to call my Mom and have her stay with him while I take Stephen to the ER. She can't because she doesn't have a car right now. I call Rich like 20 times to tell him to come home so that Richie doesn't have to make the trip with us. I can tell he is hurting. He doesn't answer. I don't feel like I can leave Richie alone in the state he is in, so I tell him that he has to go along with me. I feel horrible about that.
We go to the ER and they look at Stephen and give him an IV with some more antibiotics in it. They think he can probably go home if the lines start to recede. They also draw blood to see if he has any inflammation in his bones in the toe or if it's just a skin thing.
Rich calls and I tell him to get up to the hospital because Richie is about to throw up at that point and I'm scared about Stephen.
He eventually gets there and Richie is still headachy, but starting to feel a little better by then.
The doctor comes in and although she thinks it looks better, I show her that the lines are still exactly where they were when he came in and have not gone down. I really think I hate doctors because they try to act like they've cured something when the problem is still there. And this is my KID she's messing with. That's NOT going to FLY...
She says she'll go get her superior doctor. He says that he didn't really "buy" the red lines before, but he can see them now. WTF???? He says that he'll have to admit Stephen to give him more antibiotics since it's still there.
When they get us a room, Rich decides he's leaving to "take Richie home", even though Richie has held out for 4 hours now and his migraine is about gone. Richie is a little trooper and I'm so sorry he had to sit there while he was so sick. I think that's odd that Rich isn't going up to Stephen's room with us. My parents call and they're going to bring me some dinner and some stuff I need like a toothbrush and a sweatshirt because it is FREEZING in that hospital.
So Rich leaves and we wait about 20 more minutes in the ER and they take us up to his room. They get him settled in and start some more medicine.
Children's hospital is like a plush luxury hotel for kids. He could pick up the phone and order food whenever he wanted it, they have movies and games for the kids while they're staying there, the nurses are spectacular and so good with kids. They brought him ice cream, they brought me pillows and blankets and told me about all of the amenities they have for parents there, like showers, and snacks, etc. Every single nurse and two doctors that he had were extremely amazing.
We lay there on his bed (he wanted me to- he was pretty scared and kept breaking into tears) and watched cartoons and movies. He had a small fever, but they weren't that concerned.
My parents came up with dinner and he was so into the movie "Tron" that he barely talked to them, but he wanted them to spend the night too.
After they left we stayed up until about 10pm and I lay with him until he fell asleep. Then I moved over to the bench that was hard as a rock but at least I had a little room on it. They came in every hour to check on him and give medicine, etc.
The next morning I checked his foot the first thing and the streaks were gone! Whew! The medicine did the trick and everything except the toe was back to normal.
They came in for rounds, they said that he could go home. We ordered breakfast, watched some more TV. They said he had to take some medicine by mouth before he could go. They said it was a staph infection and that if he didn't complete the medicine, he would just be back in the hospital soon.
Evidently this medicine is HORRIBLE. He can't swallow a pill, so we have to break 3 capsules open on pudding and then he has a big horrific scene where he gags and cries and tries to throw up. He did get it down and they let us go at about 2:30pm.
Well, I knew I had to sleep when I got home because I was almost falling asleep on the way. I lay down and slept for about 4 hours.
At 8pm it was time for his next dose. Well, there was a hell of a scene with that dose. Now, he no longer had the nurse standing there telling him he had to take it. He took part of it, had a huge scene, Rich tried to give him some, he threw up. The medicine did NOT go down last night.
This morning I was DETERMINED to get it in him. The infection is still not gone, so he has to have it. I mixed it with less pudding so there wasn't so much to eat this time and he did it. Still, there was a big scene, but it's in him and hasn't come back up.
Found out from Richie that Rich went to a party the night we spent in the hospital. I had forgotten all about it because I was worried about Stephen and not thinking about it. So that was the reason he was in a big rush to get home. He didn't even see Stephen's room because he didn't come up the next day either. ugh.
