Update on Hazel

Friday was a very scary day. When Hazel woke up, we noticed the cyst was larger, more red, and tender (all signs of infection). We called the doctor and he said we could either go straight to Seattle, or they could look at her in a few hours and see what they thought. We decided to go with the latter option, but were on edge all morning knowing that there was a good chance we'd have to drop everything and head out for a potential long stay in Seattle (for IV antibiotics and later surgery). The doctor saw her at noon and said it had doubled in size over night and was definitely still infected. Since she had refused to take her antibiotic, we had to give her 2 shots of an antibiotic that would cover her for 24 hours. She was terrified and it was heart breaking. We were given a new prescription for a different antibiotic, which we were told to start Saturday. If she didn't take it, we'd have to go to the ER for 2 more shots. Friday evening we noticed the area getting bigger and bigger. We took a picture and texted it to the doctor. He instructed us to draw a circle around it and measure it again in 3 hours. If it had grown, we'd have to go to Seattle. If it was the same, we could check her again in the morning. Again, we were incredibly scared and knew we might have to leave at any time. Praise the Lord that the redness was going down after we checked her at 10 PM. This morning, it looked even a little bit better. And the best news of all? SHE TOOK HER NEW PRESCRIPTION TWICE TODAY!!!!!! The first time, she drank it out of a cup and actually liked it. That did not work the second time, so we mixed it with chocolate pudding, which was a hit. Now we are praying that she continues to take this medicine and that it clears the infection by Thursday so that the ENT we see can decide whether or not she can have the surgery to remove it Friday. She is still acting very scared overall. She knows something's going on and is very anxious. We are trying to be very attentive to her and are praying that 2 trips to the doctor this coming week are not too traumatic for her (especially the surgery).