Her First Surgery
Tuesday, August 8th, 2006
And hopefully her last.
Over the past few days, Julia developed an abscess (boil?) on her rear end. It started to get really bad on Saturday (while we were in Wrightsville Beach) and it was so painful for her to sit yesterday (Monday) that she cried the entire way from the beach to the airport.
Considering how bad it was, she did great on the two flights home, but we made an appointment for her to see the doctor this morning.
When the nurse initially checked her out, there was a spot of blood in her diaper, indicating that the abscess had broken open on the ride over. (And yes, she cried the entire way. Fortunately, the doctor is just a five-minute drive from the abode.) After we waited an hour, the doctor looked at her for about 15 seconds and sent us to the hospital to have it drained. We stopped at home for some lunch and then headed to the hospital.
A pediatric resident took a look at it (and there was even more blood on the diaper this time), brought in the attending doctor and then the attending decided to drain it himself (without calling in the surgeon).
With Dora the Explorer playing in the background, we had her lying face-down on the exam table. A nurse had her legs pinned and and I had my hand on her back as she faced me with her head down on the table.
They started by pouring a bunch of iodine all over the place and then they gave her a series of anesthetic shots around the area. That’s when the screaming started.
The doctor created an incision about 1/2 inch long and squeezed a lot of puss and blood out. Once it was completely drained, they packed gauze inside the incision and cleaned her up. The entire procedure lasted about 10 minutes and, aside from the five seconds or so in which I distracted her with the scab on my arm, Julia cried throughout.
It was a very painful experience for the both of us.
Still, she was very brave and, other than the times in which she was being examined or worked on, Julia took the whole day in stride. While we were waiting both at the doctor’s office and at the hospital, she was playful and seemingly unaffected.
She was a bit traumatized after the procedure, but she fell asleep on the ride home and slept most of the afternoon. She was still very hesitant to sit down in the evening, but the picture above is from post-dinner playtime, so she’s unaffected when she doesn’t have to sit.
She has a follow-up appointment tomorrow morning with her doctor and needs to take antibiotics four times a day for the next 10 days. The first attempt at the antibiotics did not go so well tonight, so that may be a problem.
I’m just afraid that she may not be able to watch Dora the Explorer again.
And I apologize if the above was a bit gross, but it had to be properly documented.
– I have a lot of pictures to format and get on the site, including a ton from the trip to N.C. Stay tuned …
And hopefully her last.
Over the past few days, Julia developed an abscess (boil?) on her rear end. It started to get really bad on Saturday (while we were in Wrightsville Beach) and it was so painful for her to sit yesterday (Monday) that she cried the entire way from the beach to the airport.
Considering how bad it was, she did great on the two flights home, but we made an appointment for her to see the doctor this morning.
When the nurse initially checked her out, there was a spot of blood in her diaper, indicating that the abscess had broken open on the ride over. (And yes, she cried the entire way. Fortunately, the doctor is just a five-minute drive from the abode.) After we waited an hour, the doctor looked at her for about 15 seconds and sent us to the hospital to have it drained. We stopped at home for some lunch and then headed to the hospital.
A pediatric resident took a look at it (and there was even more blood on the diaper this time), brought in the attending doctor and then the attending decided to drain it himself (without calling in the surgeon).
With Dora the Explorer playing in the background, we had her lying face-down on the exam table. A nurse had her legs pinned and and I had my hand on her back as she faced me with her head down on the table.
They started by pouring a bunch of iodine all over the place and then they gave her a series of anesthetic shots around the area. That’s when the screaming started.
The doctor created an incision about 1/2 inch long and squeezed a lot of puss and blood out. Once it was completely drained, they packed gauze inside the incision and cleaned her up. The entire procedure lasted about 10 minutes and, aside from the five seconds or so in which I distracted her with the scab on my arm, Julia cried throughout.
It was a very painful experience for the both of us.
Still, she was very brave and, other than the times in which she was being examined or worked on, Julia took the whole day in stride. While we were waiting both at the doctor’s office and at the hospital, she was playful and seemingly unaffected.
She was a bit traumatized after the procedure, but she fell asleep on the ride home and slept most of the afternoon. She was still very hesitant to sit down in the evening, but the picture above is from post-dinner playtime, so she’s unaffected when she doesn’t have to sit.
She has a follow-up appointment tomorrow morning with her doctor and needs to take antibiotics four times a day for the next 10 days. The first attempt at the antibiotics did not go so well tonight, so that may be a problem.
I’m just afraid that she may not be able to watch Dora the Explorer again.
And I apologize if the above was a bit gross, but it had to be properly documented.
– I have a lot of pictures to format and get on the site, including a ton from the trip to N.C. Stay tuned …
