This Bites

Hana got an ant bite on Sunday while watching the "boomers." For a couple days it was just a small little bump on her ankle. Then Joe noticed it looked a little swollen and we assumed she might be allergic to ant bites. Thursday evening I noticed it had come to a (green) head. I took her in to the bathroom, cleaned it, stuck a (sanitized) needle in it and got out a little puss. Joe got home and checked it out and it had come to another head so he used his daddy muscles to get lots of puss out of it. This hurt really bad. Hana doesn't know it, but it hurt us as bad as it hurt her. Over the course of the evening it came to yet another head and so we again removed the yucky puss. Hana was not pleased. It was heartbreaking. We continued cleaning it and doctoring it and she fell asleep in no time after a rough night. Jennifer, Brad and David were here to witness her rough night. She was so upset when they left, she didn't even tell them bye bye.


I was full of anticipation this morning just waiting to see how much better it was. The swelling seemed to have gone down, but the area surrounding the bite was very red and very hot to the touch. It was also full of puss again and this time Hana proved to be a real champ. Without anyone's help I somehow managed to squeeze every last drop of (now green, yellow and brown) puss out of it. It began to ooze clear stuff and I assumed that was a good thing. I doctored it and bandaged it but Hana was very lethargic. She didn't have an appetite and just wanted to be held. I left a message for Hana's pediatrician to call me back and then I called Ernie and talked to her about her recent ant bites that turned into a staph infection and decided to go ahead and make a doctor's appointment for Hana.


The doctor couldn't be sure if she had a staph infection or not because there wasn't any puss to send off to be tested but she said her gut told her it's not staph it's strep, but again, there was no way to be certain. I was given a couple of options for antibiotics and chose the best yet nastiest one. The other was complicated and would only treat one type of infection at a a time, each time waiting to see if the meds were helping and if not, then moving on to new ones. I chose to give her really strong antibiotics that would knock out wahtever it may be. "It tastes really bad" is what the doctor and the nice lady at Walgreens told me. But it was the best option in that it would single-handedly take care of whatever type of infection it is, be it staph or strep. I then chose to pay $3 more to have the pharmacy add flavoring to it. "This is really nasty-tasting stuff. I guess the grape would be the best option, " is what the nice Walgreens lady told me. This sounds promising, doesn't it?!


Hana Grace is very good about taking medicine and actually begs for her allergy medicine and her vitamins, so I really didn't think much of it. When we got home we had lunch and then it was time to take it. She has to take 2 teaspoons 3 times a day. I was given an oral syringe to administer the drug that only held a teaspoon at a time. Hana spit the first teaspoon out. The doctor had suggested I buy some Jello and mix it with the medicine to make it nice and sugary and easier to stomach, so I had purchased a box of grape Jello to complement the grape flavoring Walgreens added to the medicine. I mixed up a teaspoon and put it in a cup and told Hana it was Kool Aid. She took a drink, sat it down and said, "I don't like my Kool Aid." I smelled it and it broke my heart. It smelled like rotten grapes. I felt awful for trying to get my kid to drink the grody stuff! Then I got nervous and wondered how in the world I would get her to take this medicine. It's so important for her to take it!


Baylee suggested holding her nose for her to swallow it and I thought that sounded like a good enough plan. I told Hana, "I know this medicine tastes really bad but it's going to make you all better. Does your boo boo hurt?" and she said yes, so I continued, "This will help it stop hurting. If I hold your nose you won't be able to taste how yucky it is." She excitedly said, "I won't?" And I said, "No, you won't. Let me hold your nose while you take it and Baylee will be right here to put this straw in your mouth so you can wash it down with juice. Then you can have a sucker. (Because I'm a sucker!)" Our plan worked!!! She took the medicine like a champ and even took it again after dinner!!! Now how many two-year-olds do you know that you could reason with like that?!


Unfortunately it came to yet another head tonight

(This looks SO much better! This morning the red ring around it was about 2-3 inches in diameter and was more purple than red.)

and I had to hold my sweet girl while her daddy squeezed out a lot more puss. Victoria and Baylee witnessed it and even though it was difficult for them to hear her crying like that, once they saw what was coming out of her, they completely understood. The thing that breaks my heart the most is that she always thanks us when we're done. She knows it's helping her. She even told the doctor today "My daddy makes me much better!" I just hope this medicine does it's job - FAST! I think we'll probably have at least one more round of puss removal from the looks of it tonight. There was still a white head visible deep down in there, but it was just too deep to get at the time. We doctored it with hydrogen peroxide (the tickly stuff) and then Hana put Neosporin on it

which will help draw out what's hopefully the last bit of it. She went to bed with a pretty Dora Band Aid on it that matched her Dora pajamas. Hopefully it will be all better soon. How in the world did this happen to my sweet girl?! I was told by the doctor to just keep an eye on it and make sure she can move her foot. It's very dangerous to have an infection like this near a joint because the puss can get down in the joint and do some damage. It looks as though we've caught it very early on so hopefully it will all be over soon. Until then, Hana will continue holding her nose and gagging down her medicine for the next 10 days.