Happy Thanksgiving?!?

What a Thanksgiving! We are so blessed and have SO much to be thankful for. This year I am especially thankful for my family. And I am thankful for doctors, nurses, and their families that sacrifice their holidays so others can be taken care of.
The short version:
Lincoln had a high fever and a huge lump on his neck on Wednesday.

We got admitted to the hospital! He had to get an IV for antibiotics and have a CT scan to find out what was in the lump.

He didn't get better after the antibiotics and had to have emergency surgery to remove an abscess from his lympn node on Thanksgiving!

He was a trooper. But still had a high fever on Thursday night and Friday morning and wouldn't eat or drink very well so we got to stay until Saturday.

I am so thankful for Lincoln's blanket. Besides me, that was the one thing he wanted most.

I am thankful for the wagon. We took him on a few wagon rides. It helped to distract him and us from what was going on.

Thankful for good friends. 

Thankful for prayers, Priesthood blessings, and the Gospel.

Thankful for Family, especially mine.

All the Juicy details: AKA the really, really, really, really long version

It all started late Tuesday afternoon. Jayben had just gotten home from school, the "blizzard" was about to hit and I kissed Lincoln and noticed he was super warm. His temperature was 102. I gave him some ibuprofen and called the clinic, of course, they were closed in anticipation of the blizzard. I wasn't too worried; he was eating, drinking, and sleeping fine.

Wednesday morning started out different. His fever spiked to 103. What the h! So I immediately called the pediatrician, scheduled the first appointment they had available and figured everything would be fine. Dr. Rose did all the usual checks. Listened to his lungs and heart, checked his ears and throat. I let him know of his runny nose he had this week and that Ben had strep on Saturda.y But since everything checked out ok he ended up checking his urine, just in case. But that came back normal too! We head home and put Lincoln down for a nap.

Now for the exciting part of the story!
Ben gets home from work at 5. Lincoln wakes up at the same time. Ben goes in and picks him up and hugs him tight but Lincoln continues to fuss. I walk in the room and what I see scares me. Lincoln's neck is swollen behind his ear. I touch it and he cries out in pain. That's when I overreact for a minute and tell Ben that we have to take Lincoln to the hospital "NOW!" Check his temperature and he is warm again even though I had just given him a hefty dose of ibuprofen. I calm down (a little) long enough to think to call the after- hours pediatric clinic. We load the boys in the car. First stop was to Grandpa Jay for a blessing. Then off to the doctor. Dr. Delgado was really good. She took her time. Looked at Lincoln and after careful consideration decided Lincoln needed to be admitted to the hospital. She was about to send us to Primary Children's but was able to talk to a nurse to get us admitted at McKay. Jayben got to spend the night at Grandma Peggy's.
Once in our room they attempted to start an IV in his hand. But his hands are too chubby and they weren't able to do it. Lincoln falls asleep. They call the NICU and they come and put one in his head. I paced the room the entire time. Lincoln falls back to sleep. They come to let us know it's time for his CT scan and we are off to radiology. We get back from radiology and he is falling back to sleep, when I notice my shirt is soaked. And of course, his IV had come out. So wake him again. Try again to start an IV in his hand with no luck. The lovely NICU nurses came back to help and this time they secured his IV so well in his head that it was not going anywhere. Lincoln tried to sleep in the baby jail aka the crib but just couldn't stand it and ended up sleeping with me in a not so comfortable recliner for the night. I had called into work to let them know I wouldn't be coming in on Thanksgiving but that is a whole other story.
Thanksgiving morning I woke up to Lincoln having a high fever, still. Nurses called the doctor and the doctor said…just kidding. The doctors were concerned. His white blood cell count was 30 (normal is 5-10). And that was after having IV antibiotics twice. By 8 a.m. the surgeon had come to let us know that he would be taking Lincoln in for emergency surgery to remove an abscess in his neck. Yikes! He was out of surgery by 11 a.m. Everything went well, they were able to get to the abscess and placed a drain and 4 stitches in his neck. The abscess was filled with Strep. Jayben brought Lincoln a craft and a home made card. It was so precious. I was choked up.
After surgery, because they released the infection his fever spiked again. It was as high as 41 degrees Celsius which is 105.8. I was seriously stressed and waiting for him to have a seizure or something. Finally it came down and we were able to "rest". Ha ha. The hospital is the worst place to rest. We had the nurses bring in a bed and I just snuggled with Lincoln all night. But of course I was interrupted every hour by the nurses checking on him. I didn't mind, I understand it's their job.
Saturday his drain came out. The doctors were highly concerned about him not eating and drinking very well. Finally his appetite increased slightly and we were able to go home, thanks to the efforts of the nurse!!!

We are so happy to be home. Still not out of the woods. But much better than we were earlier in the week.
Thanks to all the prayers, thoughts, and love we were shown.