Monday, August 24, 2009

Last week as we know it

After we got home from our great vacation, we had to hit the ground running. It was the last week of our official summer vacation. The countdown was on for Analise to start kindergarten. We tried to pack it with fun. Monday we had her buddy, E, come over to play. She asked throughout the summer, and it never was good timing. She asked Monday morning if he could come over. I thought, "Why not?" They enjoyed a couple of hours together.
Tuesday morning she went to exercise with me (where she saw more friends) and then in the afternoon she got to go with her cousins to a house on a little lake. She was pumped! She and A played in the water and had a blast!
Weds. night she and I went school supply shopping. We had fun together. She was a good, patient daughter as I saw many people I knew and enjoyed visiting with most of them! :) At one point she put the shopping basket on the ground and sat in it. We went to three stores and got everything she needed...and for good prices. Yeah!
Thursday we met friends at the children's museum for one last hurrah before school began. We got home from there, and she went on a lunch date with her daddy. Shortly after her cousin A came over to play. We packed in a fun day!
Friday she went on a donut date with grandma. Always a treat. Later in the afternoon, our day took an unexpected turn. We were getting ready to run errands when Analise told me her right cheek hurt when she touched it. My loving resonse was, "Well, then don't touch it." However, as we drove around, she would say things like, "Mommy, it hurts when I do this..." When we got home I looked at it and could tell it was a little swollen. I called grandma and got her opinion. Just 20 minutes later, it was really swollen, and she was in a lot of pain. At that point I knew we would be going to urgent care. We ate an early supper, Brandon got home, and we left shortly after. We saw a really nice doctor who was honestly quite taken with what he was seeing. He's seen maybe 5 cases like this in the 11 years he's been a doctor. It was classic symptoms for mumps, though we were pretty confident it wasn't that since she's had all her vaccines. We went home thinking it was a viral infection in her pirada (salivary) gland. Instructions were to treat with Tylenol and come back in the morning.
Saturday Brandon was going to go fishing, but being the great man he is, he spent the day with us. Analise and I were back to the clinic at 8:30 where this time was saw a pediatrician. We were there a total of two hours - blood work twice and seeing the doctor. She was so kind and glad we came in. The doc from the night before popped in, so he was able to see the difference from the night before. I was very thankful. Her face was still really swollen, but it was a more general swelling where the night before was more specific to the gland. The bloodwork this time indicated a bacterial infection. We got some strong meds and knew we had to watch this really closely. If this spread elsewhere, we'd be on IV meds for 10 days. School on Monday was looking slim. She spent the day at home relaxing. Poor thing had to miss family birthday celebrations (like she did last May.) Brandon spent the night at home with her. They ate dinner in the living room and watched a movie. She was a good sport about it.
Sunday she had to stay home from church, but the good news was the swelling looked better, and her temp was way down! I took her into the clinic that afternoon and saw another doc. Thankfully he already knew about us. :) He was encouraged that she was looking better and the fever seemed to be gone. In his opinion, he thought she could go to school! PTL! What a rare thing to have this infected. Scary at times, but we are thankful for those who prayed and a God who answered!

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