I can't believe that it's only been eight days and his tongue already looks this much better! Last Sunday and Monday (when it looked its worse), I didn't think that there was any way that it was going to heal the way they thought it would.
Sunday I called Urgent Care to see if he should be seen again (as the section that he bit was now a flap of tongue, which looked worse than Saturday night when it was swollen and bloody). The receptionist from Urgent Care who filters the calls, sent the call to the nurse, who filters again (at least that's my understanding), who then sent the call to the on-call doctor. The on-call doctor then discussed the situation and wasn't entirely sure that he shouldn't be seen, so called the Spectrum Pediatric ER doctor and the doctor that we had seen. Conclusion: he's okay without sutures, without being seen again unless an infection (redness, pain and/or pus) develops, which is VERY unlikely in the mouth.
Today: wakes up crying (in pain) and his tongue has a lot of pus. Before this, he hadn't seemed to be in any pain (remarkably). I decide to call the doctor's office to see if he should be seen. After the nurse decides that he should be seen, we bring him in and the doctor tells us that the white pus is normal and he'll actually have more of it during the healing process. He also said that an oral antibiotic isn't necessary and that we should have a follow-up visit in two weeks because it's likely that he'll need to go to an Ears, Nose and Throat Specialist to have excess tissue removed after the healing process is complete.
Long story short, I'm glad I brought him in (even though throughout the ER and pediatric visits, nothing was actually done), simply because I didn't realize that he may need to see an ENT Specialist in a couple of weeks. It was also nice to get a peace of mind that what we were seeing was normal and not something to be concerned about.
The pictures that I took today are even more graphic than the ones taken on Saturday, so I won't put any of you through that... I just pray that no one else has to go through it!
Early in the evening (Rated : G)
After ER visit (Rated : PG)
Close-up of tongue, be prepared that it's not pretty (Rated : PG - 13)
Long story short: Landon missed the first of two cement steps in front of our porch and hit face first. Blood was everywhere. He bit his tongue, got a gash on the inside of his lower lip and a little road rash on his chin (I have yet to figure out how the tongue and gash could happen in one incident). I ran him to Zeeland ER and was fortunate to have our brother-in-law's sister working in the ER and Rob's sister working in OB, but available to join us. No stitches were "needed" since they'd need to sedate him and they said the results would be virtually the same. Needless to say, he's alive and well (talking and eating too!). Hopefully it heals as well as they hope.
... caught with raw hot dogs! She'll squish spiders with her bare hands, but I'm not sure what she thought of this fish :)
(here's that haircut picture promised long ago... check out the bangs!)
I have been so delinquent! Here's a brief synopsis of our life:
* My last day of work was July 2... yeah!
* We've been away at the cottage (July 2 - July 5 and July 10 - 12), so nice!
* I didn't have a computer, but am appreciative of the time without to adjust from my comfort zone of being in front of one all day (and therefore the temptation of being distracted)
* LD decided to all of a sudden be potty trained (with some encouragement, of course ;) )... double yeah!
* We got a fantastic deal on a computer and hope to possibly be connected by tomorrow (hopefully updated pictures will follow later this week!)
* I've gotten BIG into couponing, and LOVE IT! Saving money gives me such a high!
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