Battle Wound

Here is the battle wound. The left side of his head is swollen and his ear is reminiscent of Mickey Mouse from the front.

To be honest I am more worried about his new hairstyle. Why did they shave so much of his hair? It must have been the work of a resident student. Do I shave it all or let it slowly grow back?

After surgery Alexander bounced back pretty quickly. He was running around with his brothers within a day of surgery, but over the weekend I have had some concerns arise.

My concerns:

The surgical doctor’s nurse called and asked for us to come in for a post operative check up. That is not normal protocol so I asked, “Why?” since I would do anything to avoid an hour and twenty minute drive with three squirmy boys in the backseat of my car to sit in a germ infested waiting room for 35 minutes and then to see the doctor for only 5 minutes. He would look at what he needed to see, write something down and then I would be off to endure a nightmare of a drive home with grumpy, hungry kids all while sitting in traffic on the 495.

When the nurse got back to me she said they had some concerns while stitching him up and were curious to know how he was healing. My brilliant husband suggested we send them pictures of Alexander. Great idea, right?! (Problem, I still don’t own a working camera). The doctors office thought it was a great idea also, I love it when we actually make technology work for us. I would suggest more doctors to allow this in their practice, wouldn’t it save time, money and gas if we could send in a photo to an emergency room and ask simple questions like, “should I butterfly this wound, or does it need stitches?” There is a reason why we all have snapshot cameras and internet access at our finger tips. Of course I don’t right now so I knocked on my thoughtful neighbor’s door. (Btw, I am ordering one tonight so I will be ready for the first day of school pics).

That was Friday afternoon so I have not heard back from the office yet, hopefully I will know more tomorrow.

Concern number 2. Alexander has had a number of fever’s over the past few days. Yesterday his external temp was 100.7 which may not sound bad but he normally clocks in at 96.8 under his armpit. He looses his energy quickly and has found his only comfort in snuggling in his crib with his blanket or rocking with me in a chair. He lost his appetite and refuses milk. Luckily he will still drink water from the bottle (which I was trying to get rid of) while he is in bed. We have talked to the doctors and they are aware of his condition. My hope is that it is only a reaction from surgery, nothing more. We will wait another day and see.