After being home for a few days, after the surgery, we started to notice that Levi's jaw area was swollen. While his drain site was healing and looked great, the actual surgery site looked as if it was swelling up.
We took him in to see Dr. Grimmer and he was concerned but was afraid to do much because if what we were seeing was a new cyst then he didn't want to aggravate it by sticking a needle in it. But at the same time, sticking a needle in it and looking at what came out might tell us if it was infected. In the end, the doctor decided not to do anything and wanted us to come back in a month.
Um, yeah. That didn't happen.
Because it just kept getting bigger and bigger with each passing day.
It got so big that the incision site actually opened up.
We took him back to the doctor's office but Dr. Grimmer was in surgery so we worked with a resident and I'm truly grateful. I like Dr. Grimmer very much and I'm confident of his knowledge in his field of work but he is busy. This ENT resident took his time and was so very patient with Levi as he freaked out over the possibility of using a needle to aspirate it. His name is Dr. Cox and I am excited for his future patients and the care I know he'll provide.
(You see this happy face? That is one happy face because Dr. Cox was able to drain all that gunk in there without using a needle!)
The nurse, Dr. Cox, and I were trying to calm Levi down. Trying to get him to understand that if we didn't drain this now with a needle then we would have to go back in for surgery just to drain it! He is so terrified of needles that he actually WANTED to go back into surgery over being in the office and quickly having it aspirated by needle.
But something happened while we were trying to get him to understand that we were going to aspirate it there. It just opened up and started to come out on its own! These above pictures do not do justice to how huge this infection actually was. When it started to come out the doctor and nurse immediately started to work on this area to get more and more to come out. But honestly, they didn't have to do much because it wanted out! I know this has got to sound so very gross but for me (and this is coming from someone who does get grossed out pretty easily when it comes to stuff like this) I was so relieved that Levi was calm, it was coming out, and that we actually had a solution after all this time, that I didn't care. It wasn't until afterwards that I realized just how very gross it all was. The nurse was grossed out by it (but she really did try to hide it) and even the doctor said that it wasn't anything like what he expected to be in there.
Originally Dr. Grimmer had been ruling out an infection because it wasn't warm to the touch or red. So when this honey like stuff came out with Dr. Cox, they took samples and had them sent off.
Unfortunately, just a few days later it was back to growing in size as it continued to fill up with this stuff. But by this time, he had already had antibiotics in him for a few days so it took longer and turned out to be the last time that we had to go in to have it aspirated. It got a little infected one more time but David was able to take care of it at home.
The bandage around Levi's head in one of the above pictures is called a jaw bra. One of the purposes for it was to put pressure on this area. Dr. Cox hoped that if enough pressure was put on it, and that if there was another cyst in there, it just might squish it enough to turn it to scar tissue.
Today marks a week that Levi has not had this jaw bra on anymore and also a week of this finally being infection free. When we went to see Dr. Grimmer last week, he decided to leave it alone for now and have an ultrasound done in about 6 months. To some that may seem odd, but after all that Levi has been through and the chances that another surgery might just cause another cyst, I am very happy with this decision. Levi needs a break. He has been so cautious about doing everything that the doctor has suggested; even when it meant that he had to skip out of fun things. He never complained. He just did what he was suppose to do because he wanted this all to go away. And having that jaw bra on was embarrassing for him. It is a good thing that most of this occurred in cold weather because he would just try to cover it up in public by putting a hoodie on. And I was not going to send him to school like that. He had been through enough.
But now he has been in school for 3 days and even though he wouldn't admit it, I think he's glad to be back. He has missed a LOT of school and even though at his age missing school is a fun thing, this whole experience has kept him away from a lot of activities and friend time. You know thinking about it, I wonder what the Lord has in store for my Levi. I can't imagine this happening to a better kid. And he did so well. I got depressed way more than he did and it wasn't even happening to me! On the few occasions that he expressed it being hard, he still was so good about it and he only said something because he was asked. I truly love this boy of mine so very much.
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