Dayton had some sort of a bug bite on his hand that was out of control. Within 36 hours of the bite, his whole hand and fingers were red and swollen, and it was spreading to his wrist. He was complaining that his hand was hurting, which was apparent because of the pressure from the inflamation. It appeared to be some sort of an infection, so I needed to take him in to get antibiotics.
Because we were visiting out of state, the urgent care clinics would not take our insurance. We were instructed that the Emergency Room would accept us. I felt silly taking a bug bite to the Emergency Room, but we were sent to a non-emergency section of the ER, so it worked out.
Thankfully, we have coached our children very well regarding doctors, and we always prepare them for whatever they may experience. Dayton actually ASKED to go see the hand doctor because his hand was hurting, so he was very excited to go. I warned him that the doctor may even need to poke his sore hand in order to make it better, and Dayton was fine with that- what a trooper!
The nurses treated Dayton like royalty. He was called "Buzz Lightyear" upon request; he was given about 10 of the large doctor's office stickers; he also got a teddy bear during the visit that he got to take home with him as a souvenir.
Dayton laying on his hospital bed,
eating fruit snacks while waiting for the "hand doctor"
eating fruit snacks while waiting for the "hand doctor"
Dayton loves visiting the doctor
Hand comparison- it looked worse than the picture depicts
Grandpa Bill joined us for the ER trip, and Dayton passed some waiting time playing with him;
here Dayton is measuring Grandpa's arm
The "hand doctor" was very nice as well. He said Dayton's hand was most likely a Staff or Strep infection. These bacteria are regularly on our skin, and in Dayton's case, some of the bacteria made their way into his bug bite to cause the infection. Luckily, the doctor made the diagnosis just by looking at Dayton's hand, so no needles were used. Dayton was given two antibiotics which we picked up on the way back to the reunion. Grandpa treated Dayton to a milkshake on the way home.Our ER trip only pulled us away from the reunion fun for about 2 hours. Dayton LOVES taking medicine so he took his antibiotics like a pro, and the swelling was reduced by half the next day. Within just a few days, his hand was completely back to normal, with only a tiny brown bruise where the original bite had been. If future trips to the ER with my kids occur, I wish they could all be as harmless as this one.
5 comments:
Glad he broke you in easy and all is well :)
Buzz Lightyear?! What happened to Dayton Super-Hero!? :)
Emma asks about sometimes, she says, "Mom, what was that boys name at dance class?!" She really loved dance class.
Poor little guy. Glad everything is okay. Thank you for your sweet comment on my blog. We really should get together and hang out again soon. We have passes to the Brookfield zoo if you guys want to come down and go sometime!
yes, good thing it wasn't too serious! What a good patient. And that bear may well become his favorite bear. Odessa's ER bear was her absolute favorite and somehow we lost it in the last move!! She has been so sad, I even called the ER to see if there was a way to track down a duplicate!
Yowza, that's the way to end a vacation. I, too, am glad it wasn't too serious and he was a calm, good boy. That definitely helps the situation.
Glad the bite wasn't too serious. Sounds like he was quite the trooper =]
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