Thursday, October 11, 2012

Abscess... Again

Judith developed another abscess, this time on her thigh.  I noticed that a little bump was starting a while ago, but didn't really do anything.  Much like the last one, it looked like a little pimple, and I thought that maybe the diaper ruffles were rubbing her skin and irritating it.  Then, over the weekend, it started getting worse, until it looked really ugly on Tuesday.  I called the pedi, and got an appointment for her.  My mom came along to help - I knew after the last abscess, I would definitely need help to hold Judith steady so the pedi could examine the spot and see if it would drain.  Luckily we got it to drain and were able to get a culture.  I'm still waiting to hear the results.  It could be staph, it could be strep, or it could be MRSA.  I hope it's just staph or strep.  If it's MRSA, the pedi said she'll have to put Judith on bactrum, and I'm leery about doing that since it's one of her go-to antibiotics for respiratory infections.  I want to ward off the possibility of resistance as long as possible, and her pedi agrees.

The amount of pus that drained out of this thing is disgusting.  Considering the size of the actual abscess under the skin, it's not surprising that so much pus was involved, but it still managed to catch me off guard.  I hate, hate, hate having to drain it.  I hate that it's so painful for Judith, and I hate hearing her scream in pain.  I also hate seeing all of the foul colored infection-laden pus pouring out of the abscess.  I normally have a relatively strong stomach for these things, but this was making me gag.

Judith does seem to be doing better each day, though.  Yesterday was a bit rough: she had a slight fever the night before, and yesterday didn't want to put a lot of pressure on her leg.  She was walking funny, partially from the pain and partially from the big band aids I was using to create a barrier for the diaper. Today she seemed to be back to her normal self, save for the crying whenever the spot was accidentally bumped.  She has 4 doses of antibiotics in her system, and it looks like it might be helping.

We're stumped by this.  Both John & I want to know how she's getting these infections.  Hopefully we'll have some answers tomorrow.

1 comment:

  1. Poor Judith, and you! I remember I had a cyst that needed drained one time when I was pregnant with Joanna and I almost passed out from the awful smell of it! Yuck. Hope you guys are well <3

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