Update on Mom

Mom's tear duct surgery area started to look pretty red and puffy, but we kept applying the drops, putting on the salve and icing it.  We knew it would take time to heal.  Then it started to look pretty good so we were very hopeful and mom started her usual routine of watering her plants and doing the laundry.  She said that sitting and lying around just made her feel sicker.

Then things turned ugly.  The stitch area started to swell and no amount of icing it was helping.  Icing was probably not the best thing for it in retrospect.

When we brought her in for her post-surgery appointment, the nurse was shocked.  She called the doctor right away.  I felt really bad that we didn't just bring her in earlier, but mom kept insisting that she wanted to just wait for her scheduled appointment.

The doctor said it was infected and that he would have to make a cut to get the pus out.  I asked if it would hurt and he looked at me and tried to be honest, yet not be an alarmist.  "It's going to hurt," he said grimly.

Then he thought about it and said we could try an antibiotic first.  Mom agreed to the pills quickly.  This was on Wednesday and he said if it didn't show progress by Friday he'd have to take the pus out.

We started the antibiotic quickly and on Thursday, pus and blood started to ooze out on its own. The swelling went down.  The redness faded a bit.  Friday morning, I was alarmed to see her stitches had come apart and the incision was open.  However, the swelling was really down.

When we brought mom in to see the doctor later in the day he said that it looked much better.  Really?  He said that nature had done on its own what he would have had to do.  Really?  Mom was sitting there grinning from ear to ear.  There is some scabbing and I hope it continues to heal well, but at least the crisis is over... for now.

That a relief!