Cooper's Bad Week

It has been a really crazy week for us! A lot of you probably know- from Facebook updates, or phone calls- about what we've been up to with Cooper. I have been wanting to write it all down while I can still remember details. It's one of those things that would be good to have information all in one place, in case I ever need it again. So, this could be a long, boring, wordy post. If you want all the details, go ahead and read... if you don't, I won't care.

I think one of the hardest things about being a parent is trying to figure out your kids. They go through so many different stages naturally that it's always hard to know what's going on. For example- during a growth spurt, their appetite and sleeping habits change; teething... just give up on figuring them out during that process. They are fussy, clingy, and pretty much act like they are sick. Once Sydney got shots while she was teething, so she was doubly fussy, and I remember wondering if she was ok, or if she was having reactions to the shots. I called the doctor, and we talked- everything was fine. I can't even count the number of times I, my siblings, or my children, have been to the doctor, and have been sent home saying, "it's a virus, there's nothing we can do." That is very frustrating. I have wasted hours in the waiting room to be told to wait it out. I have wasted money on doctor's appointments, and strep cultures numerous times. So how on earth are you supposed to know when to take your kids to the doctor? The answer is..... you don't. Sometimes I wish there were clear cut answers, but I have learned that even for doctors there aren't. Many times it is a guessing game. There are so many things that have similar symptoms, that it is really a process of elimination. I think I knew that already, but this week has confirmed my knowledge. It has made me appreciate doctors even more. It has made me appreciate so many things. But, probably the most important thing I've learned, is to risk the money, risk the time, don't worry about sounding like an idiot, and take your kid to, or call, the doctor! Trust your instincts!

This is a picture of Cooper at Brett's baseball game last Tuesday- June 13th. He looks miserable. I summed it up to teething. He is almost 9 months, with no teeth, and is almost the same age as Sydney when she started teething. Cooper had been getting increasingly fussy. He cried every time I set him down. Thinking back on his symptoms, now they seem very clear, at the time it seemed like a combination of "teething" and learning how to crawl. His early symptoms include: crying during diaper changes- I thought he just wanted to crawl around; crying every time I set him down- yes I always set him on his bum and didn't think of that, I just thought he was being clingy; and when I would pick him up and put my hand under his bum he would cry with pain- I thought, oh yes, he is a boy, I need to be careful where I put my hands; loss of apetite- could also be teething. Then a low-grade fever appeared, which can also happen with teething. Over a few days his fever increased, but it was still never really high.

On Wednesday, the 14th, Matt was home for his day off. I set Cooper down on the ground and he screamed bloody murder. I told Matt, "He has been crying every time I set him down. He won't sit in a high chair, or his exersaucer, or anything. Maybe something is going on with him." So we decided to call the doctor. I felt pretty stupid saying, "My baby cries every time I set him down." The nurse asked me a few questions, like if I had seen any swelling or redness on his bum or testicles. I told her no. She said, it seemed pretty vague, but maybe I should bring him in. We took Cooper into the doctor that night. I remember going in thinking, they'll just tell me nothing is wrong and to go home! We told another nurse what was wrong, and she said, "oh, we'll see what the doctor says," told the doctor what was wrong, "oh well let's check him out." His ears are fine, stomach, heart, lungs, throat, etc- fine. When we got to his bum, and the doctor starts pushing around, Cooper screams. We had found his problem. The doctor told us Cooper had a peri-anal absess.

He explained it as an infection in his bum. Apparently there are thousands of bacteria in our intestines, that typically get pooped out. Somehow, some bacteria found some sort of tunnel in Cooper that led to his bum cheek. It got stuck in there, and got infected. It continued to grow into this pocket of infection. The infection was so far into Cooper's bum cheek that we couldn't see any signs of it. The doctor said that many times, these absesses form a "head" like a zit, and leak puss, but Cooper's was too deep to do that. So we had no idea what type of bacteria had infected him. He explained that we had three options. #1 admit Cooper overnight to the hospital for an IV of antibiotics. #2 Guess what type of bacteria he had by putting him on antibiotics that killed most of the bacteria in the intestines. #3 Do nothing, let the absess get bigger, and hope that some puss came out. He suggested option #2. He also explained, that Cooper had a 50% chance of this happening again, and if it did he would need surgery to block the tunnel, so it wouldn't happen over and over again.

At this point my stomach was sick. As a mother, I had never heard the words hospitalize overnight or surgery. But we put him on an antibiotic called, "Augmentin" and prayed it would work. The doctor told us he wanted to see Cooper again on Friday to see how he was doing. I left the doctor thinking, Thank goodness we took him in!!! I could tell something was not right.

By Friday, I could tell that the antibiotics had not helped Cooper. His absess was bigger, and his skin around it more red. At this point, I would have been able to visually tell that something was wrong with his bum. Plus, he was beginning to get diaper rash, because the antibiotics had given him diarrhea. My stomach was in knots all day. I was so nervous that we would take him in and the doctor would tell us to take him to the hospital right away. All day I kept wondering if I should pack bags for the hospital. What would I do with Sydney? Matt was at work, should I tell him to keep working till his shift was over, or take a point and leave early?

When I got to the doctor, he asked how Cooper was doing. I told him he was about the same, that the tylenol seemed to be helping him feel better. (On a side note- it is such a pain that all the infant's tylenol and motrin were recalled. We had to look at so many different stores to find generic brands!) The doctor looked at Cooper's bum, and felt the absess, and said, "it's bigger." So, we decided to put Cooper on a different antibiotic called "Cephalexin." He said this one should take care of some of the different bacteria in his intestines and to keep giving Cooper yogurt to help with his diarrhea. He told me that if the absess got bigger or stayed the same to bring Cooper in to the emergency clinic with the on-call doctor on Sunday night. He hoped that this antibiotic would take care of it, but said we were one step closer to the hospital.

Once again, on Sunday, I could tell that Cooper's absess was bigger and worse. It was very big, very red, and very painful. My nerves were not as bad this time, and I attribute that to all the prayers being said on our behalf. Matt gave Cooper a blessing, Matt's grandma put Cooper's name on the prayer-roll at the temple, and we were getting many phone calls, texts, Facebook messages, etc. from people telling us we were in their prayers. It really helped having the spirit with us, and helped me feel a lot better about the situation.

Anyway, we took Cooper in on Sunday night, which happened to be Father's Day, and the on-call doctor said he didn't really want to try and guess with another antibiotic. He thought and thought about what we should do. Finally, he told us that he thought maybe we should try to stick a needle in it to see if we could get any puss out. If we could get anything out, we would be able to culture it, see exactly what type of bacteria it was, and treat him with the correct antibiotics. He thought because the absess was closer to the surface now we might be able to get something out of it. The only downside to this would be that it would be extremely painful for Cooper, and we might not be able to get anything out.

We decided to go ahead and try. This was one of the worst experiences I've ever had, and I still get teary-eyed thinking about it. I had to hold one leg down, the nurse had to hold the other leg down, and Matt was holding Cooper's upper body and arms. I personally have never seen anyone in that much pain before. I think Sydney was equally concerned watching the whole thing. The doctor stuck the needle in and at first nothing came out. So he squeezed the absess a little and got a little bit of puss on a q-tip for a culture. He decided to squeeze some more to try to get more puss out, and a ton came out. It flew probably 2 feet into the air and up the nurses arm, and then puss and blood gushed out, all the while, Cooper is still screaming his head off. The doctor told us to continue with the antibiotic we were on and wait until the results from the culture came back to change anything. He also told us, to give Cooper baths and after try to squeeze more puss out. We were able to get some more out that night, but never again after. He also said to call back in 20 minutes, and he would look at it under a microscope. He thought he would be able to tell us if it were a staph infection or an e-coli infection. He also said, preliminary results from the culture would be available the next day around 2, and to call in and talk to his nurse.

Slowly, Cooper started feeling a little bit better, because some of the pressure had been released, but Monday was one of the worst days for me. Sunday, after the doctor's, we went to visit family at my grandparent's house for Father's Day. Unfortunately I left my phone there. When I was giving Cooper a bath in their bathtub I put it on the counter and forgot about it. So on Monday, Matt left his phone with me. I called the doctor 4 different times, and was on hold for about 20-30 minutes each time. The 3rd time I called, I realized that they were probably calling me back on my phone- which I had left at my grandparent's house. So I waited on hold again, just to give them a different phone number. I never did end up talking to anyone of any help that day at it was quite frustrating.

Tuesday the 22nd, I was finally able to talk to a nurse. They had the final results from the culture. The bacteria that Cooper has is e-coli based.

It is resistent to

Cephalexin

and intermediate to

Augmentin. So we put him on a 3rd antibiotic called, Omnicef. We also got a referral to a pediatric surgeon at Primary Children's Hospital. They wanted us to meet with him to see if he thought Cooper would need surgery to clean out his infection.

We met with the surgeon on Wednesday the 23rd, one week after our original doctor's appointment. (We went to the doctor's office 4 times in 1 week, not to mention numerous phone calls). The surgeon wants us to continue Cooper on the Omnicef and see if it cleans out the infection entirely. We are meeting with him again on Monday, and if the infection is not gone, he will clean it out. It is just an outpatient procedure, so nothing too serious.

Things are finally looking like they are coming to an end. The Omnicef

has been seeming to work and help Cooper feel better. He is starting to get his appetite back, and will sit on his bum sometimes. It is still very tender to the touch, and I can still feel infection in it, but it is much better than it was. It will be nice to finally have our lives back to normal, and our happy, healthy baby back. Even though it has been just a little longer than a week, it feels more like it's been about a month!

Good health is probably one of the biggest things that people take for granted. It's one of those things that you don't really think about, until you don't have it anymore. Even though this hasn't been a really serious or dangerous thing, it has been hard to go through. It was amazing to walk through Primary Children's and see the children who are struggling with their health. I am so grateful that we have our health, and that what Cooper has been going through is not dangerous. My prayers and thoughts go out to those children and their families. I can not even imagine how they feel.

We are so grateful for all of the support and prayers from everyone! We will update everyone again on Monday after we meet with the surgeon again.