Mitchell in the hospital

Everything is okay now, but we had a big scare 2 weeks ago with Mitchell. We noticed on Monday night (8/11) that he had what appeared to be a small pimple on his lower back/tailbone area. When I felt it, I could feel some hardness under the surface. At this point, Steve & I were fairly certain it was the start of an abscess because just last October Abigail had one under her arm. After going to the dr on Tues & Wed and it not getting any better, but actually growing quite rapidly, we were told on Thurs that Mitchell would have to be admitted to Children's Hospital for surgery & IV antibiotics. It was one of the scariest things we have had to go through as parents! Before going to the hospital on Thurs, Mitchell was running a 104 degree fever, was very lethargic and could barely walk and could not bend over, he was in too much pain. It was heartbreaking to see him in that much pain!

We were admitted on Thurs afternoon, the surgeons came in Thurs late afternoon and determined that the abscess would have to be opened up and packed to get the rest of the infection out (our pediatrician had lanced it in the office on Wed, but there seemed to still be quite a bit of infection still there). They did the surgery Thurs around 8pm, he did not go under anesthetic, but instead they put a topical numbing cream on the abscess. I stayed in his room while Steve went into the surgery with him. It only took 10 minutes and he came out a much happier little man! The surgery immediately made him feel better, as the pressure from the abscess was so painful. For the first time in 3 days, he was playing and eating again! It was so nice to see his smile again!

The doctors decided to keep us in the hospital until Saturday afternoon, so they could keep Mitchell on IV antibiotics and monitor his open wound. Mitchell was discharged on Saturday afternoon with oral antibiotics to continue at home. He still had the packing in, but they wanted to make sure that if there was any infection left that it would be able to drain on it's own. We went back to the pediatrician's office the following Monday and had the packing removed.

Mitchell is still recovering, but is doing great. His appetite is back in full force and he is up playing and laughing like his old self. He still has a bandage on and the wound is still healing, but it is looking better & better each day!

Steve & I were so proud of Mitchell during this entire ordeal. He was such a brave little boy the entire time. He was always telling the doctors & nurses "thank you" even after they would do something that hurt him. He went through a great deal, but tried to always keep a little smile on his face! We are so thankful to God that He healed our son and that He is still healing him now!!