Adren's Leg (View at your own risk!)

 Wow- you're here? Ok, you have been warned.

So, one day Adren came home from school and told me his leg had a weird bump on it. Like a bruise, but not a bruise. His friends had noticed it and one friend asked him if he'd shown his mom and if not he probably should. 

Yeah, that is weird. So off to the Doctor we went. I had to snap a pic of my big boy sitting on the doctors pad. I remember having to stand right by him in this exact room so that he wouldn't topple off, and here we are...

He said his skateboard hits this spot repeatedly while skating, but he hadn't hit it in over a month. So, it's weird!

The doctor had a colleague come in to take a look and help consult. All signs pointed toward an infection, not an injury so two heavy antibiotics were prescribed to hit it on all sides. 

After a day or two of antibiotics, I wasn't encouraged. It seemed to be growing, not shrinking. The doctor called on a Thursday to see how he was doing, she was going to be gone until Monday. She told me that if I could see that it was coming to a head I could try to prick it to see if it could drain and relieve the swelling. I kept my eyes on it. It was getting angry.

It radiated heat! The skin was stretched so thin as it continued to swell. In addition to this, Adren did not feel well. He slept a lot and didn't have much of an appetite. Then, on Sunday he could feel a lump in his lymph node in his groin. We could see little pockets of puss through the skin, so close to the surface. I really wanted to try to prick one so that we could drain this thing already! In-between meetings on Sunday, while Jon was busy downstairs making dinner, I told Adren to get on my bed, I was going to operate. I got a clean towel, my biggest needle, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, a lighter, some plastic gloves- I told Zeke to go boil some water. (I don't know! Is that only for childbirth?)

I dipped the long needle in the alcohol and put it over the lighter, but that just created a lot of black ash. I wiped it clean with the hydrogen peroxide and told Adren to sit tight. He kept asking, "Do you know what your doing?" Well, I've never done this before... We said a prayer together.

I pricked a pocket of puss and... nothing. Eventually a little bead of blood appeared. Nothing! I asked Adren how it felt and if I should try in another area. He said it felt exactly like someone pushing a fat needle into your leg, and NO. We were done. Ok, I tried. I cleaned up and ran off to my next meeting.

That evening, Jon gave him a blessing. 

The next morning, it looked downright scary! The doctor could not believe how things had escalated. Again, she called colleagues in. One guy in training stayed backed into the corner, wide-eyed. She sent us over to Timpanogos Hospital right away to see a wound doctor.

Bless this wound doctor! Bless all doctors that have paved the way through the centuries to get us to where we are today! How grateful I am for modern medicine. The doctor came in the room, took one look at his leg and told us there was no amount of antibiotics in the world that was going to make this go away. He said left untreated, it's next step was blood poisoning, Adren would lose his leg, and in a few months his life. The swollen lymph node was his bodies way of building a dam to protect his heart and other vital organs. It needed to be lanced. A nurse and doctor came in to assist. One put an absorbent pad under his leg. The doctor said, "No, we need a bucket." He started injecting pain medicine all over into the lump (Poor Adren! It hurt so bad!) I stood up and grabbed his hand. That bulge got so big and white as the doctor just kept filling up syringe after syringe and injecting more medicine. Poor Adren! 

I just kept squeezing his hand as they cut into it to relive the swelling. Adren laid back with his eyes squeezed shut and asked what it looked like. The nurse said, "Like a blood volcano!" They just kept massaging and pushing all the blood out (and pain meds!) until it looked like a deflated balloon. Then they cut a hole so that it wouldn't seal up right away with infection still inside. I could not believe what I was seeing! 

Poor Adren took a peek and I watched his face go from pale to green. I've never seen anyone turn green before.

The nurse was so nice to scrub away the blood on his pants and shoes.

It's just a huge hole in his leg. Down to his muscle. The doctor said the infection did not reach into his muscle, such a relief! He said it was likely caused by bad luck. Old blood had pooled in there from past injury, and the tinies scratch brought in bacteria which just festered and grew. Just bad luck. I didn't know something like this was even possible in these times! 

We left with instruction to just repack the wound each morning and night with fresh gauze as it would just keep closing in on itself and healing. As we left the office we were both stunned at what had occurred. It was the craziest thing we have ever witnessed. I learned when I see something so gruesome in real life, my arms go numb. 

We went back the next day to make sure the infection was out, and the doctor thought it looked real good. We just continued to repack with fresh gauze- well, Adren took total care of it, my arms were numb. I marveled at how it has just continued to heal. He felt so much better the next day- the crumminess and lethargy was gone. 

And now, about 10 weeks out, it just looks like a really bad scar. I wonder if it will always be a smooth patch, or will it eventually grow hair? 

The body sure is an amazing thing. I had to kind of chuckle at my feeble attempt of pricking it myself, imagining if I was able to get all the infection out, leaving that big hole. Adren would have been like, "What did you do???" Yikes.

I told Adren that the devil sure wants him down for some reason. I admire his attitude, he just dealt with it and stayed his happy self through it all. What an experience! 

Once again, I am just so grateful for Adren and his health and his ability to deal with these crazy things that happen to him. I feel like it's for a reason, perhaps he'll know someday. For today I am just grateful to have my healthy boy. 

p.s. Good job getting to the end!