This Bites...Again

WARNING: GRAPHIC & GROSS

Do you remember this: This Bites? Or this: This Bites: Update? How about this: This Bites: Another Update? Let me catch you up.

Hana got a couple of what we think were mosquito bites the last time we went to the lake. One of them healed right up while the other became severely infected. This time is much worse than what happened back in July. Again it's either a Staph or Strep infection, a culture was not taken. We doctored it the best we could but it hurt her so bad she wouldn't let us do much to it except pour on hydrogen peroxide after a warm bath (and a little scrub sneaked in with a clean towel as we "dried her off") topped with Neosporin and a Band Aid. I honestly thought we had things under control. That was until she woke up Sunday morning. I almost threw up. I never could have imagined anything could get so bad so fast. I don't want to sound like a fool here, I knew it was infected, I just really thought it was manageable.

The bite is on her left side just above her waist line and is so incredibly swollen, well, I don't even know how to describe it. Once we saw how it looked Sunday morning we rushed her to the local Urgent Care Clinic. She really did not want to go to the doctor, which is odd for her. She is very protective of her boo boo and does not want anyone, and I mean anyone looking at it, messing with it or coming within about a foot of it. If you try, BEWARE! We talked a lot to her about how much we needed to see the doctor so that things could get better. We reminded her of her ant bite before and how once the doctor gave up medicine for it, it cleared right up. By the time we got to the clinic she was in high spirits. This giant unicorn lollipop she was promised to get afterward probably helped "sweeten" the deal. (The name of the lollipop was "Unicorn" so she liked putting it on her head to make her look like one.)

We had been to this clinic once before when Joe had a kidney stone and were really impressed with the doctor. I had no idea they had a kid room!

The doc came in and it took him, Joe and myself to hold Hana down just so he could look at it. No joke. I vowed to him that she is a very tough girl, loves going to the doctor and takes shots like a champ. I knew her behavior was a direct result of the pain she was experiencing. Obviously he was not angered by her behavior, we just had to figure out how we were going to handle the situation. Two nurses had heard Hana screaming and crying and immediately came to our assistance. The doctor suggested he give her something to "take off the edge" and help "fog her memory" so the experience wouldn't be too traumatizing. We agreed. At that point we would have done just about anything to help her.

The nurses left and came back with a medicine syringe full of fluid that they shot up Hana's nostril. It took Joe, me and two nurses to get that accomplished. It really freaked Joe out because he cannot stand the thought of liquid going up his nose. She was instantly calmed and over the next fifteen minutes she became drunk, drunker, drunkest. It was hilarious (and I admit a little frightening) to watch and listen to her as she stumbled around the room jibber jabbering in some made up language. She said this to me and I hope I will never ever forget it as long as I live. "Momma, have you ever eaten a real live unicorn? (laughing) Wouldn't that be hairy?" She was feeling so good that I honestly thought the next course of events would have panned out smoothly. Boy, was I mistaken.

Obviously the thing needed to drain, so he was going to have to stick a needle in it to open it up so the nasty stuff would have somewhere drain. Great. Sounds fun. Can you hear the sarcasm of my words? It's amazing what comes over you as a parent, though. I never in a million years thought I would hold my child down while she's kicking and screaming so someone can inflict pain upon her. That's exactly what I did. But the catch is that it had to be done. What were our other options? I did not want this thing to spiral so much out of control she would end up in the hospital. I honestly thought when we left for the clinic that morning that there was a good chance we would be sent to the local children's hospital.

I begged for some of the magic nasal spray for myself so I could forget what I was about to experience and they all laughed at me. But, I was serious! It took four adults to hold her down. I say this with tears in my eyes. The area was sprayed and numbed, but that did not seem to matter. (Mom had a brown recluse bite that had to be dug out and she says the "deadening" of the area doesn't really help much at all). The doctor was able to get the needle in the two pockets and puss and blood shot out, soaking her pretty little shirt. A Band Aid was adhered, she sat up and within a couple minutes she was laughing, smiling and eating her unicorn lollipop. Oh. My. Goodness.

She is taking two antibiotics, neither of which smells as bad as the one she took last time and we're switching between Tylenol and Motrin for pain. Last night when I took her to bed I asked the question I ask her every night "What was your favorite part of today?" I expected her to say "Aunt Bicky and Shirshank coming over," but she said, and I do not lie, "Going to the doctor!" Seriously? That must have been some good stuff they shot up her nose. And thank goodness for that! This is what it looked like this morning:

We are changing the bandage frequently, cleaning it out...well Hana is doing that herself. See the green puss in the picture above? Well, it needed to be removed and she did not want me coming anywhere near it. Per the doctor's suggestion, I let her lay with a warm, wet wash cloth over it to help it drain and it loosened up the puss. She still wouldn't let me come near it so I had her take a shower (with antibacterial body soap) and the puss was trying to come out on it's own but it was in need of some assistance.

After an incredibly frustrating battle with her I just had to leave the room. There was no way I wanted to hurt her but there was no way I was going to bandage it back up with the puss sitting on it! She wouldn't let me remove it and even though she said she would do it herself, she just kept wiping beside the area. I was overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. I left, counted to ten and came back in to find her smiling from ear to ear and telling me how she'd done it all by herself. "I looked in the mirror, Momma, and I saw that green stuff and I wiped it all away real good like you wanted me to!" I gushed with tears telling her how proud I was of her and she promises that if it needs to happen again she'll do it without a fight. "It didn't even hurt, Momma! It just tickled a little." What a wonderful, brilliant, strong, tough, brave, sweet and totally and utterly amazing little girl I have!

So why has she had now two Staph/Strep infections? I don't really know. The doctor said that we all have it on us, just some of us have more aggressive types. That still doesn't explain it enough for me, I plan to do some research so I can hopefully prevent this from ever happening again. It makes me feel dirty and like a failure of a mother.

As for now, she is napping soundly in her bed with antibiotics in her to fight off the bad guys. She took a dose of Motrin before her nap so hopefully she will sleep well and for a while and let those antibiotics do their job.