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Manic Monday: An Unexpected Hard Day

Monday, June 28, 2010

I've really been wanting to participate in a "Manic Monday" for awhile now.

But every Monday comes and goes, and the space that I just know is meant for me over on the link-up, remains blank. Either I completely forget (spacey as an astronaut these days), or my camera is too full, or the battery is dead, or- this or that or this. I just can't seem to make it happen.

A lot of the blogs that I read (I've been spacey about keeping up with those as well, I'm so sorry, friends), host weekly meme's. I honestly don't even know what word "meme" mean-means (hah, see what I did just now? haha). To me, it means "a fun blog game that everyone plays, usually involving pictures". I could google the actual meaning, but- why waste the time, when theres something equally amusing on ebay I could be looking up instead, right?

And its not that I don't love all of your meme's, because I do. I love to read them. I love to watch everybody else play them. I just... can't really get into them myself. I crack under meme pressure, hah.

Sometimes, randomly, I'll get the urge to enter a few photo contests just for the heck of it, but I've never been steady with it.

I guess I prefer to blog on a whim?

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Anyways. Today was just as my blogger friend Sarah's meme indicated it would be- it was a very Manic Monday.

Christopher and I woke up at the same time this morning, but with me waddling rather than walking, he made it down the stairs much faster than I did. When I finally made it to the bottom, he was sitting on the couch with Charlie in his lap, and Eleanore was laying on the mattress at the bottom of the stairs (don't ask).

"Mommy I have a boo boo under my panties".

...huh?

I had just woken up, I had no idea what she was talking about. But, she was laying under a giant stuffed dog, not moving, when normally she'd be jumping up and down ready to pounce on me the second I closed the baby gate behind me.

"It hurts", she said.

"Show me", I demand. We went back and forth for a minute. I told her I didn't understand what she meant (partially because I had just woken up, and partially because shes not even four years old, and makes very little sense sometimes), and after she kept repeating the same nonsense about boo boo's and panties and it hurt while she slept but I couldn't see it- I threw my hands up into the air and walked away.

And then Christopher chimes in, and says ..."I think she might really be hurt though".

I stopped. I turned back around. I soaked up the guilt that I felt for having walked away frustrated in the first place, and then twisted it up and rang it out with an "ok Eleanore, you have to show me".

I promised her over and over again that I wouldn't touch it. I wouldn't put my hands anywhere near it, but that she had to show me. It took her 5 minutes to even stand up, and then another 5 minutes before she'd agree to show me. And even then, she didn't show me. She ended up showing her Daddy first, which made me feel like a failure as a Mother, but I sucked it up, and when she gave me my turn- nearly being held down by Christopher- I went into a complete and total panic.

Oh. My. God.

Not only was she not kidding, about having a boo boo under her panties, but- this poor girl had a massive infection that came literally out of nowhere, overnight, and she needed to be seen NOW. Right now. 5 minutes ago, NOW.

We call the doctor, we get her an appointment, and Christopher takes her.

For me, what happened next was- I sat on the couch playing trucks and doing a half ass job of reading airplane books to Charlie, while staring at my broken cell phone on the couch, waiting for it to light up with a text message (seriously, I need a working phone), giving me an update on what the heck was going on. I knew that no matter what happened, it was going to be awful for both her and Christopher, I hated myself for not being able to go (but I just couldn't put Charlie through seeing that, just like we couldn't put her through seeing his Swine Flu treatments or EEG), and ohmygod what was taking them so long?!

Finally, a text!! And it read "They're going to drain it with a needle".

What?! While shes awake? They're just going to... pin her down and drain it? Just like that?

Um. Did I happen to tell y'all where her "boo boo" was, exactly? Because-

...its where no female would ever ever ever want to have a boo boo. Imagine the absolute worst place to have an abscess. And thats where it is.

I started crying immediately. I imagined how things at the doctor's office must have been playing out, and it crushed me. Every time I started to get overwhelmed and thought I was going to hyperventilate, I tickled Charlie until I forgot about it. Poor guy, I think he choked on his own fit of giggles at least 3 times. And I kept reading him the airplane book. And we sang songs about ducks. Over, and over, and over again.

40 minutes later, they returned home. Eleanore- covered from head to toe in stickers, wearing a purple smiley face bracelet, ready to tell me aaaallllll about the giant needle and Dr. Scooby Doo (who apparently blew bubbles with nothing but his hands and the hand soap). Christopher- looking like he'd been run over by a truck.

The way that he described it to me, was that the doctor took one look at her boo boo, knew exactly his plan of action, and then together him and Christopher had to hold down all 47 pounds of my very strong kicking and screaming daughter- while the doctor punctured a small hole into her boo boo as quickly as he could.

Blood. Everywhere.

Her screams could be heard throughout the entire hospital.

MY BABY!

I honestly don't know how they did it.

She was so traumatized by the whole thing, it took them 10 minutes to get her changed out of her teddy bear hospital gown, and back into her clothes. She didn't get cleaned up. She didn't get bandaged up. And she refused to let Daddy carry her. She walked all the way from the doctor's office, to the pharmacy- limping and lagging. A broken soul.

Because of her past battles with MRSA, shes been given a stronger antibiotic than they might normally prescribe, and we've been given the instructions of "give her these meds 3 times a day, give her a bath 2 times a day, and at the first sign of the infection getting any larger, take her straight to the ER, so they can sedate her and cut it open".

*silence. blinking. eyes filling with tears while I write this.*

She won't let us near it. Shes terrified. We've given her the meds twice today. Christopher has given her her baths (hes physically, and maybe mentally, stronger than I am.), and hes been the one thats had to pin her down on the ground to clean her wound and bandage it. She screams every time. We don't hurt her, but shes still so afraid.

Tonight will be the most critical. Either her infection will start to improve, seeing as how shes started her round of antibiotics (last time, she underwent 4 rounds of treatment), and her boo boo has been draining regularly. Or- overnight, it will get worse, and we'll have to take her to the ER in the morning, to have them step it up a notch.

Ladies, can you imagine? Can you imagine having an abscess, there? Right beside, there?

We don't know what caused it. An ant bite. A spider bite. Bacteria.
We won't have results until next week.



I snuck up to her room tonight, between sweeping and steam mopping, to give her another sippy of apple juice (she needs lots of fluids to go with her meds). I knew that she wasn't sleeping, I heard her up there reading to herself. When I asked her how she felt, she said "fine", as if she had no idea what I was talking about. When I asked her more specifically, she said it wasn't hurting her right now- which is the very best answer she could have possibly given me. At that point I knew I shouldn't linger, so I just left her alone with her drink and her Bible stories, and let her calmly read in peace.



And, I left her with the comforts of her favorite MeeMaw doll, of course.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about her, though. I'll be thinking about her all night. I'll have a hard time sleeping, waiting for morning to come. Waiting to see if its gotten better or worse.

As painful as I know it all has to be, I'd gladly switch places with her. I'm sure all of you Mama's would feel the same if it were your daughter.

So ...while I didn't exactly participate in Manic Monday the way that I had hoped to, my Monday was indeed, Manic.

Manic Monday Button

(click the above button to read more Manic Monday's, and maybe even play along)


Edit* Its Tuesday now, and when we checked Miss Eleanore this morning, things looked much much better. Thank, goodness. Thank you ALL for your good vibes, positive thoughts, and prayers. We so very much appreciate your being there for us.

24 comments:

Brigette June 28, 2010 at 9:38 PM  

ohhh I couldn't imagine being that young and having to deal with that. I would defiatenly switch places with her just so she doens't have to suffer. I hope it's better tomorrow!

Chana@ Mamma Town June 28, 2010 at 9:44 PM  

Oh my Tia. I'm SO beyond sorry about this. I can't imagine being in that sort of pain at 30 years old, let alone 4. This is the painful stuff of motherhood no one can describe to you, and it sucks. I swear it hurts so much to watch your kid in pain. Hang in there. Kiss that sweetie so much. Keep us posted! Poor baby girl.

Unknown June 28, 2010 at 9:44 PM  

OMG, I had to stop reading because I was crying too hard. So... cut to the comment. OMGOMGOMG, how HORRIBLE! I am SO glad she's okay, and OMG my brain can't process this yet.

So glad she's okay!

Lacey June 28, 2010 at 10:04 PM  

Believe me when I say this, I will up with you thinking about her and sending positive thoughts her way. I will also be poking around your part of Internet-town looking for updates.

Everything will be just fine, I can feel it, feel it in my bones. ;)

Mrs. Mommy June 28, 2010 at 10:04 PM  

Oh no, the poor sweetie!!! What a HORRIBLE place for a boo boo!!! She's in my prayers that it will get better and not worse before the morning.

Chelsey - The Paper Mama June 28, 2010 at 10:16 PM  

Wow. What a crazy day. poor baby girl. I'm sorry your Monday had to be so manic. Poor poor poor baby girl.

ouchie.

Casey June 28, 2010 at 10:20 PM  

Oh my gosh, poor Ellie :( She's going to be ok now, though, Tia. She's got her meds & her loving family and it's going to heal right up.
Oh, I wish i could reach through the screen & cuddle her, poor baby doll.

Anonymous,  June 28, 2010 at 10:35 PM  

Oh... my... gosh...
What a horrible, horrible day! Make sure you give that husband of yours one hell of a smooch for being the hero today.

Lisa@goodknits June 28, 2010 at 10:41 PM  

I was going to go into how I learned about memes in my college evolution class before I even heard of them online and blah blah blah....

BUT THEN I READ YOUR STORY! ah!! poor baby!! that sounds sooo awful! I hope the infection clears ASAP!

Anonymous,  June 28, 2010 at 10:42 PM  

Aww, poor baby :(

I saw some of your tweets about this mess but I couldn't make sense of it till just now.

Hugs to you both!

Rogue Wild June 28, 2010 at 10:55 PM  

oh Tia, that brought tears to my eyes!! I'm keeping you all in my thoughts and sending healing vibes to Texas! big hugs!

Jess Craig June 28, 2010 at 11:10 PM  

this s the worst thing ever.

beka June 28, 2010 at 11:43 PM  

Manic is right. Golly!
So glad she's doing fine now--hpoe it stays away.
Weird thing is, the 3-yr-old daughter of a friend of ours got one of those, except more around her bottom, I'm pretty sure.
Ugh. Hate those freaky things. I wonder what exactly causes them?
Hugs to both of you!

Christina June 29, 2010 at 12:06 AM  

Poor girlie! Will pray it heals up fast. I am sorry she had to go through that, and you and Christopher as well. :(

Mommy Elephant Sarah June 29, 2010 at 2:08 AM  

Oh wow! Can I just say that I thought she had blood drawn today when I saw your tweets? I didn't realize this was going on! That is just horrible!! Poor thing!! Manic Monday indeed, and yes you did Manic Monday right. There are no rules on how to do it. You just have to post pictures from that day. Thanks for playing. :)

Sending good vibes both your way. Hope everything looks better in the morning, and no trips to the ER!

krissilugbill June 29, 2010 at 2:34 AM  

oh my goodness! poor little thing, i can not imagine having that happen! to myself or my daughter! so sorry that happened! that is one true manic monday :( i hope she recovers quickly!!!!

Jessica June 29, 2010 at 8:14 AM  

oh no!!! I hope that it gets better ASAP because that is by far the most horrible thing that a child should have to go through! Poor baby and POOR momma!!!! Wishing her a speedy recovery!

Amy June 29, 2010 at 8:21 AM  

How is she this morning, Tia? Off to check Twitter for updates. Hugs.

emily June 29, 2010 at 8:31 AM  

Oh my goodness - poor Ellie! I hope this clears up FAST... for all of your sakes :)

Kelly Irene June 29, 2010 at 8:33 AM  

poor miss Ellanore (and poor mommy and daddy too!) I am so sorry you guys had to deal with all of that. I hope today is much better for all of you with less pain all around around.

Anonymous,  June 29, 2010 at 11:47 AM  

OH MY GOSH!!! Poor little thing! :(
I'm just now reading this on Tuesday (so sorry) :(
I have to admit I teared up reading this all - what a strong little girl to go thru such a traumatic experience!
I really hope that it continues to get better and she has no more 'boo-boos' anytime in the near future :)
I'll be thinking good thoughts for you all ;)

Oh Mandie June 29, 2010 at 12:43 PM  

oh my goodness, I don't think I can even imagine having to go through that, and I'm 26! Poor Ellie!

I'm glad that shes doing better now though and there was no morning ER trip. Hopefully it clears up and shes back up and running around soon.

Love and Prayers are with you guys!

April June 29, 2010 at 7:54 PM  

My heart goes out to her (and you for that matter). That's where Autumn had her abscess. There was no option for us of needle draining, we went straight to the cutting part. It's the most horrible thing to see your children in pain. I still feel sick when I think about my 4 year old admitted to the hospital, put under anesthesia and then cut open. She was such a brave girl. Give Miss Ellie a giant hug from my Autumn! Hopefully they can hug for real this weekend!!

Carrie June 30, 2010 at 4:56 PM  

OK, I'll admit it - I HAD one of these when I was around 3. It's one of my earliest memories actually. I was playing outside in the leaves when suddenly there was a shooting pain in my extreme lower butt cheek region. I remember getting treated in the hospital but I do believe they knocked me out. It healed up just fine and I have a teeny scar. I hope Miss E heals quickly and drama-free!

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