Tuesday Night

Holden didn't sleep very long today. I had to wake him up at 1:15pm to give him his pain medicine. Once I did that, he was up for the rest of the day. He's been bouncin' and runnin' and talking non-stop. It's been quite a challenge to get him to settle down. He's been eating a lot too. Lots of pudding and popsicles this afternoon. Then, he wanted some mac n'cheese for dinner. While I am in the kitchen cooking his macaroni, he makes this sound. A sound that I didn't want to hear. He was "hacking", like trying to get up phlem. Then the panic set in. He couldn't swallow...just drooled. He couldn't tell me what was wrong...he just kept pointing at his throat.

I had Harold grab the flashlight to look in his mouth and there was this thing sitting on top of his tongue. It looked like a mucus sac, but the size of my thumb! It was between the roof of his mouth and his tongue. He couldn't spit it out and he wouldn't try swallowing. So, I'm on hold for 30 mins with Carelink, trying to get in touch with the doctor. (by the way, I let the doctor know that it took that long and he was thankful for that information) I was one foot out the door on the way to the emergency room.

The Doctor tells me that it's probably mucus and to reach in with my fingers and grab it out -- or use a pair of tweezers to get it out. So, I opt for the 2nd route. As soon as the tweezers pinched that sac, Holden went screaming. Thank goodness, Harold was still on the phone with the doctor when I did that. I then told him that it looked like stretched skin, not mucus. Well, guess what I just pinched....his UVULA!! OMG! He told me that it must be his uvula that is swollen. And he said that it will probably get worse. It was already huge! The problem was when Holden tried to hawk up spit, it brought his uvula forward. Doc said he had to swallow hard to get it to go back behind his tongue. Well, that effort alone took 30 mins and a trip over by his Papa to get him to swallow! He just wouldn't do it. We threated a trip to the hospital, another shot, everything. But, once he did, his uvula went back and he was back to normal. Since then, Holden has eaten two bowls of mac n'cheese and some wonton soup.

No more hacking, Holden! I can't handle that stress!