Monday afternoon I noticed a fairly large abscess on the back of Abbie's earlobe (strange, I know). I immediately drove her down to Provo to see a doctor. I wasn't able to get into the doctor that I love and trust so I saw whoever was available. He looked at it briefly and then told me just to watch it for a few days and come back if it got worse, despite the redness and swelling which to me would indicate infection he didn't want to give her antibiotics for nothing. He told me it must have been there for awhile and steadily got bigger without me noticing, despite my efforts to convince him I knew it had come on suddenly. He concluded it was some type of scar tissue forming from having her ears pierced (why would it form three months after the fact? I have no idea). As we were leaving I told Scott it just didn't make sense of feel right.
As soon as I got home I called and made an appointment with the doctor I felt more comfortable with for Wed. Yesterday there was little change, but this morning it was red, purple with a hint of yellow and much bigger. Within seconds of checking her out the doctor told me she had a boil! He felt strongly he needed to start her on antibiotics to kill whatever infection her body was trying to fight and he wanted to open it up and drain it. YUCK! Luckily Scott was there and he volunteered to help the nurse hold her down while the Dr. did his thing. I waited in the waiting room with Caden and heard Abbie screaming from down the hall. Talk about breaking a mother's heart! The Dr. told me he was so glad I listened to my gut and brought her back because they drained a substantial amount of infection from her ear and apparently the ear is one of the worst spots to get infection. Not only could it spread to the inner ear, but also it can attack the cartilage and create permanent cosmetic damage within a short amount of time.
To make a sad story even sadder, the Dr. advised me to leave her earrings out for a few months so that her ear will heal completely without having to work around a foreign object. Chances are her ears will close up by then and I am not sure it would be wise to piece them again at 9 months (I hear by then they are more aware and will mess with them). I am so sad her cute little ears will no longer have any bling, at least for the a few months.
Moral of the story...
(1) boils aren't just for old people AND
(2) a mother ALWAYS knows best and to GO WITH YOUR GUT!
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