The Toe

For those of you who missed it, we had quite the scare the week before Thanksgiving. It started Friday afternoon when Bug started complaining that his toe was hurting. It did look a little red, so I decided to have the doctor look at it. She took an x-ray and looked closely for a bug bite, but didn't find anything and sent us home with instructions to use Benadryl and a prescription for antibiotics just in case. Fast forward six hours and things were looking much worse. The redness of his toe was moving up his foot and he just wasn't acting himself. We decided to take him to urgent care, where they took one look at him and immediately sent us to Cook Children's in Fort Worth

Finally asleep after 1am - started on IV antibiotics and waiting to be sent to a room. The doctor on call told us that we could either be checked in or wait to see how the oral antibiotics would work at home because his symptoms weren't too serious. 20 minutes after we decided to stay, he began running a temp of 102 and throwing up.

 Enjoying the first of many popsicles. Notice the puffy red face - he had a reaction to one of the antibiotics and was taken off of it. Thankful that he wasn't allergic to the antibiotic that took care of the type of infection he had!

Perking up a little after the first rough night - playing with a game from sweet friends that came to wish him well.

On the second day, his IV infiltrated and had to be removed. Poor guy was too sick to care during the insertion of the first one, but was not happy the second time around! Thankfully, Daddy was there to hold him and the second one stayed put.

Feeling a little better the second evening. This day was rough because he spent most of it with one hand wrapped for the IV and the other hand wrapped in hot cloths to take the swelling down.

Resting the third morning after the doctor's visit. His toe looked pretty terrible by now, so the doctor decided to "lance" it and drain the fluid. They sent it off to be tested, confirmed his infection (staph), and watched his toe just a little longer before releasing us to go home.

Starting to feel a little antsy after three days in the same bed!

 Finally unhooked and ready to go home!

Crashed in the car on the way home. Cook has a Build-A-Bear in the hospital, so we were able to take Bug to make a polar bear as a special treat for being such a trooper. The nurses were very impressed with his behavior. I must admit that I was a little surprised myself! He asked to leave a lot (Go out there? Go church? Go library? Go Wal-Mart? Go grocery store?) but he didn't ever really get out of control - we watched Toy Story 3 nine times, Tangled twice, Cars twice, and a little PBS and Disney Channel. I don't know what I would have done with him if he hadn't been interested in the television! I have to mention that the hospital staff was nothing short of impressive. The nurses were excellent, and there was a steady stream of volunteers bringing books, toys, and a special prayer bear for Bug, as well as offering to sit so I could get some food or to ask if I needed any travel toilitries or magazines. I'm so thankful to live close to such an excellent hospital, and couldn't have asked for better care.

Happy to be home!!! We didn't celebrate Thanksgiving as we originally planned, but we were beyond thankful to be at home as a family. Spending a few days in the hospital brings a realization that some people stay there a lot longer than we had to for a lot more serious situations. We are so blessed to have healthy kids. Thank you, God, for watching over our little one during such a scary time and for bringing him home whole, healthy and happy!

The Toe Pictures

WARNING - if you have a weak stomach, you should stop and skip this post. Some people asked what Bug's toe looked like, so I thought I would share. It's also almost unbelievable. I don't know that I would have believed my son's toe actually looked that bad unless I saw it myself. I didn't originally intend to create a photo diary of the progression of the infection - sounds crazy. I started with one picture so that I could defend my decision to take him to the doctor on Friday afternoon :) We later took another picture to compare the two. When we arrived at the hospital, the doctor said that the pictures were helpful and suggested that we continue to take them so that different doctors or nurses on call could understand the progression. So, here you have it - Bug's staph infection in pictures.

 Friday, 12:45pm - not normal, but not emergency. If he hadn't complained about it, I don't know that I  would have noticed it.

 Friday, 2:00pm - at the doctor's office - a little more red and swollen

 Friday, 10pm - Urgent Care - so swollen that the skin is starting to look shiny. his toenail was also really yellow at this point and the redness was well onto his foot

 Saturday 1:00am - hospital - that's a BIG toe!

 Saturday 1:00pm - swelling seems to have slowed, but around the toenail looks pretty bad

 Saturday 7:00pm - swelling is better, but toe still getting worse

 Sunday 8:00am - yes, that's his actual toe

Sunday 8:30am - immediately after being lanced

 Monday 8:00pm - slowly but surely...

Tuesday 2:30pm - As soon as they let him get down and walk around, he fell and knocked all of the skin and his toenail off. It looks terrible, but I was glad to have all of that gross skin gone! I was really worried about secondary infection with all of that new pink skin, but he was fine.

 Wednesday 1:30 pm

 Thursday 9:00am

Friday 8:00pm - still looks gross, but most of the swelling is gone

The doctor told us that his toenail might or might not grow back because the infection could have gotten into the nailbed, but I am very happy to report that a teeny, tiny toenail is currently growing.

Congratulations, you have now satisfied your gross quota for the year :)

Trick or Treat

As Halloween approached this year, Tink remembered last year and was really excited to wear her costume and Trick-or-Treat. Jackson was sick the week before I wasn't going to take him out, but R convinced me that he needed to visit just one or two houses. The weather was great, so I agreed. I'm glad I did - he loved every minute, and we met some of our sweet neighbors! Because Toy Story 3 has been such a favorite for the kids this year, their costumes were a no-brainer. We looked forward to taking pictures with their cousins in their coordinating costumes, but it was Christmas before we got them. It was definitely worth the effort and the wait - how cute are they? ;)

Fall Fun

 Fall tree (Q-tip) painting

 Going on a leaf hunt and looking in a book for types of leaves

 Homemade pumpkin donuts!

 "pumpkin" lunch

 marble painting

 Oh, this wasn't face painting????

Memory Lane

As a teacher, I took several field trips to a local apple orchard. The owners invited school groups to come and  learn about Johnny Appleseed, gardening, and bees. I have fond memories of those trips and always hoped to take my children. I was sad to find that the orchard much smaller due to the owner's declining health, but he and his wife were as sweet as ever, and just as I hoped, were still making fresh pies and cakes! We had a great time exploring the orchard and gardens and picking our own apples. Tink and I came home excited to make apple butter, muffins, and our very first "from scratch" apple pie.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin