1.14.2011

The Bite!

So we kind of had a terrible week! Bummer huh? I decided to blog the whole experience because i don't think I've ever been so frustrated in my life and I'm hoping it won't happen like this for others!!

Last Saturday Nash and I were hanging out up at my parents. I was at the counter reading, Grandma Annie was doing dishes, and Nash was playing with his buddy Rudy (my moms shitszu). Nash was trying to get Rudy to play "hide and go seek" with him...which was adorable... and my mom helped play along by calling Rudy and hiding him behind the counter! Nash was thrilled! Well, I guess while trying to attempt this on his own, Nash startled Rudy and he snapped at him leaving 3 bite punctures on his sweet little cheek, and a fat lip from his paw.:( It was so surprising and so quick! Rudy has NEVER attempted to harm Nash or either of the girls before. He's such a good dog, we believe Nash just scared or touched him somewhere sensitive. After cleaning it up a bit we decided that it looked deep enough that we better take him into the Dr. just in case.
This is our little noodle on the way to the after hours Dr. about 20 min after the bite. The Orem office where we usually take him was closed, so with my mom by my side, we headed to the Provo office where the on call Dr. was waiting. I was happy we brought him in because the Dr. said that the wounds were deep and needed to be cleaned well and to be stitched up. He told me that the largest wound had started to clot and that he needed to re-open it with saline to make sure it was cleaned and to see how deep it really was. Well, we went into the little operating room and they cleaned him up really good, gave him a DPT booster shot and were luckily able to use the liquid stitch instead of stitches. He called in an antibiotic and sent us on our way. Mom and I were both fighting back tears the whole time and Nash was the brave one!
PROBLEM NUMERO UNO!!!! The Dr. never re-opened and cleaned the largest puncture wound! At the time i just figured that he thought it looked fine and that it was ok!

Sunday morning when I woke up I noticed that the wound had white puss on it stuck under the liquid stitch. I was worried and a little grossed out so I called Josh at work for his medical advice. He wasn't too worried since Nash was on an antibiotic and just told me to keep and eye on it and keep him updated.
This picture was taken at about 2pm Sunday. Throughout the day, the white mark got bigger and the redness around the wound worsened. We were having dinner over at Josh's dads and by 7pm Zack pushed us to call the Dr. again because the redness had started moving upwards to his eye! Our appointment was a 9pm and again the on call Dr. was one in the Provo office. The Dr. was obviously upset that he was the on call Dr.! He obviously had other places he'd rather be..(and we didn't?) He basically treated us like we were idiots and told us that it didn't matter because he was on antibiotics! I kept saying "YES, but it's getting worse" doesn't that mean something? Well, he hurried us out of there as fast as he could. He was an ASS! Pardon my french but that doesn't even do the ding bat justice!!!

We kept giving him his antibiotic, but when Tuesday rolled around and the wound looked its worse, I decided to call our own Dr. and leave a message for her personally! She called me right back and told me to come in right away! I called my mom and she headed right over to help.

Nash got right in to see Dr. Melissa Kendall and right away she said we needed to drain the infection. A nurse came in to help me hold Nash down as the Dr. started removing the infection. I couldn't believe how much was coming out! When i thought she was done, she started squeezing the wound and even more came out. Nash was a wreck! He was absolutely traumatized by the situation! She sent a swab in for a culture and told us that the type of infection that is in his wound is not even effected by the antibiotic the other Dr. gave us!!!! WHAT!!!! Antibiotics for 3 days that don't even work?!!! So upset! Oh wait...there's more! That particular type of wound needs to be able to breath and heal from the inside out! STITCHES WERE ONLY HARMING HIM!!! There was a gum ball sized pocket of infection that was stuck because of the liquid stitch! The Dr. couldn't say anything about her co-workers but you could tell she was disgusted in both of them! Dr. #1 who treated the wound wrong from the start, and Dr. #2 who should have easily recognized the spreading infection and removed it from a poor, sick, three year old boys face!

Hours later, the wound already looked so much better and with warm compresses 3 times a day to remove any puss, and a new antibiotic that actually fights the bacterial infection he has...Nash is doing well and likes to let you know that his cheek is "Healfy" and doesn't hurt! We are writing a letter to the medical director of Utah Valley Pediatrics to let them know of the mistreatment we received. An infection on the face of that young of a child can be very dangerous and those Dr.'s may need to return to medical school. 

2 comments:

Bethea said...

Oh Angie, that sounds so awful!! We're glad Nash is feeling better! There are way too many cases of careless doctors lately! It's so upsetting!

Kylee said...

I'm glad you're writing a letter. Doctors cannot treat people like that--no one can!! You're one great mama!