It has been a rough 24 hours at the Coffer household. We noticed over the weekend that Beckham had a bump on his upper leg, but it looked just like that, a bump, so we didn't think much of it. He spent the day with my Mom on Monday and she said she noticed the bump, but didn't think anything of it either. Just to note, B has very sensitve skin, so he frequently gets these bumps and also rashes so we figured the spot was the same thing. Unfortunately, not so much.
Note: The following might be a bit graphic or TMI.
Fast forward to last night. Justin went to soccer practice and the kids and I went to a volleyball game at my school. Willard was playing Bolivar and one of our favorite people, Shelby, plays for Bolivar so we couldn't miss the game. We all got home around the same time and shortly after we began to get Beckham ready for a bath. That is when I gasped and noticed that the "bump" on his leg had a dark center and the area around it was as hard as a rock. Justin pressed on the area and gunk began to ooze from the spot. We cleaned the area, gave him his bath, put antibiotic cream on the area, and put him to bed.
This morning when I got him up, he was incredibly fussy, but the spot didn't look any worse. However, within 20 minutes, Beckham was sobbing uncontrolably and wouldn't let us even touch his leg. Cue major panic because it was already 6:15, which is too late for me to call into work and get a sub and Justin had a big project to work on. We were trying to figure out what to do when I check on Makenna, who is getting ready, and she tells me she doesn't look good and she looks pale. Oh the joys of parenthood.
We finally decide that Justin would take the kids in to the doctor and we would go from there. I head off to work and within 5 minutes Makenna is better, but Beckham certainly is not. To make a long story short, we learned that somehow, from somewhere Beckham got an abscess. He is a beautiful picture of his leg.
He is currently on an antibiotic and we are monitoring him very closely for the next 48 hours (well now only 36). If the antibiotic is working it will be evident by then. If not, we have to take him back in to have it cultured to see what it is and at that point we are facing the possibility of inpatient surgery to drain and clear it. In the meantime, Justin and I have the joy of soaking and draining the spot 3 times and day and this is honestly the hardest thing we have had to do as parents. Beckham is in so much pain when we do this, but so much "stuff" comes out and it is amazing that his little body can hold so much infection in one little spot. The good news is that when we drained it before we put him to bed tonight it appeared we may had gotten the core of the abscess out so hopefully he will be better in the morning. Please pray that the antibiotics work and that he will quit hurting. Also pray that it doesn't spread to any of the rest of us, which is a possibility.