A rough patch

One of the primary reasons for moving up to Frederick was to get Kiernan into the lottery for some charter schools. I was initially quite optimistic about his chances. Sufficed to say my optimism was misplaced. There were 900+ applicants for approximately 15 spaces. I stayed up in the lottery drawing room until it was time to go put the kids to bed. I was very unhappy. I talked to David on the phone on my way back and he was very unhappy for other reasons.

Davids job is being outsourced and because of that nearly all of the other IT employees have left in pursuit of new jobs. David and a few others have been left holding the bag until the transition occurs. Major meetings have been happening in his building and because they are understaffed its created a big headache for everyone. 

We groused at each other all the way home in anticipation of a pizza dinner and playing with the kids. We got home had pizza and started the bed time routine. Megan was very fussy. 

At bath time I saw that what the night before had been a small red bump (a pimple? a bug bite? a molluscan spot?) had swollen to a protrusion nearly the size of a ping pong ball. Her whole shoulder was angry red. Mom said we should take her to the ER. 

She was fairly happy in the waiting room as long as no one touched her back or arm but it was about to get a lot worse for her. She was given Motrin for her fever some narcotic thing to make her sleepy a topical numbing agent to prepare for the scalpel that was about to open up her arm.

It was almost 11 by the time everything  had taken effect. Megan was a very sleepy baby and scared from all the new stuff and the poking and prodding.

I sat in the bed and Megan slept fitfully on me.

 

Around 11:15 the nurse and Dr. came in and wrapped Megan like a burrito and injected something (I assume saline) into the abscess area it began to drain and Megan of course cried quite a bit. Then they got the scalpel out and made a hole under her arm. They put gauze in it with a wick sticking out to prevent the wound from closing too quickly and bandaged Megan like a Civil War soldier.

She fell to sleep as soon as we got home but woke with a high fever and in some pain at 4 a.m.

We only had Tylenol at home so I got over to the 24 hour to buy some Motrin. I was so grateful that we had a 24 hour CVS nearby. 

The next morning (Wednesday)  I didn't go into work. I got up at 6 with Kiernan and went to the store to get everyone breakfast treats and lots of yogurt things for Megan who is now on 2 antibiotics: one for MRSA and the other for staff.

Megan was not a happy girl when she got up. After antibiotic dosing  and more Motrin and some Yo Gabagaba she relaxed and slept some more. Kiernan was taken to Grandma and Grandpa Scearce's to give him some play time and space to be loud. 

Did I mention that Wednesday was home inspection day?

We made our bleary way to the new house and had a very positive home inspection. This would likely have merited a whole blog entry by itself if not for the lottery/ER events.

The upshot of the inspection was that the house is very strong and any problems are not builder problems but "Harry homeowner" problems. Our inspector was named Mike Tebeau and he seemed solid and knowledgeable.

 The next two inspections will be for the well and the septic system.

When we got home David went to get Kiernan and take him for a haircut and mom and I took Megan to the Dr.

That was one of the worst Dr.'s visits I have ever been to (lol it wasn't a great haircut either). The redness has gone down and the ping pong ball is now puffiness but it is still not empty. Dr Hsu (Kiernan's Dr.) saw us and squeezed the area to get out some pus and take another culture. There was no anesthetic and it was clearly very very painful for Megan. I saw too much of her innards through that hole in her arm and felt so much like I should be stopping the Dr. from hurting her that I was shaking all the way home. Additionally we must go back tomorrow to do it all again. Ug. Miserable!

We went home and had a bottle and watched ladeda (a thing that always makes Megan happy) and had a bath-less but otherwise normal evening. Her fever broke before bed and didn't come back until 3 a.m. after which she joined us in our bed. 

This morning she had no fever and she slept for an extra 2 hours and was playful and energetic. I am so glad that there is no Dr. visit today.