We've had a bit of a scare

Well, J has been a bit of a butt all last week. He was sick with allergies and I generally try to avoid him when he gets sick - and that's really what he wants - to be left alone.

Yesterday I had had enough and told him that I was going to call and make an appointment for him with our doctor. He refused to go, so I didn't make the appointment.

Scan to later in the day . . .

He started to have some trouble walking and mentioned that his in-grown toe nail was starting to hurt. Okay. Another thing for me to avoid, I think.

We went to the parents orientation last night, so he had to walk on his feet. We came home and he took his shoes off. His left big toe had started to swell. So we elevated it, I gave him some Tylenol PM and a baggie of ice to try to get the swelling down.

He went to bed and was really, really uncomfortable. He got up and went into the living room so he wouldn't bother me. About 4 am he came in and asked when the doctor's office was going to be open. I told him around 8 am, but it may be longer as I didn't know when there would be an open appointment for us to go. J limped back to the living room.

Well, it was 4 am and I didn't want to get up, but my big clue that he was really not feeling good was that he WANTED to go to the doctor's office. J does NOT like to go to the doctors and will avoid it at all costs.

I went into the living room and turned on the light to look at the toe. It actually was twice the size I saw from last night - and let me tell you, it was BIG last night. This time, however, the toe had turned all sorts of different colors - yellow, purple, blue. It was really, really colorful and looked incredibly painful.

I told J that we weren't going to wait for morning. I had visions on him not being able to get up and stumble to the car, so we went to the emergency room.

Once we got there, the ER doc immediately said that he was going to be admitted and that he had a bacterial infection that has spread to J's blood stream.

WOW!

Turns out, J didn't have an in-grown toe nail. His toe cuticle had become infected which in turn traveled up into the blood stream. What really has the doctors concerned is the speed of the infection. It traveled FAST. He's going to get a podiatrist consult to make sure the other toes don't do this, either. We're also waiting to find out what type of bacterial infection it is - it could be one that is very tough to get rid of. If not, then it's just a simple course of antibiotic pills and he can go home tomorrow.

M got a little teary this morning after the doctor said we could go home. Last time someone she loved was in the hospital was Grandma. She was a little scared about her Dad being in the hospital. J picked up on why and was able to get her calmed down. She still worries about her dad, but we visited him today at the hospital and he's remarkably much more comfortable than when we initially left him at the ER.