November 2015

There’s not much to report for November from our house. There was a lot of the same going on here. School, running, homework, more homework, dance, more dance, orthodontist appointments, BYU football (and USU football for Megan), etc.

Probably the biggest event we have had going on is Autumn’s deep tissue abscess in her neck (at least that’s what the doctors think it is) and trying to figure out how to make it go away. It all started at the end of October when Autumn got sick with a sore throat and fever, and what appeared to be a swollen lymph node in her neck. Her doctor did a strep test which came back positive, so she had a penicilin shot and we thought that would be the end of it. A week later, she still wasn’t feeling any better and late Saturday night, she spiked a high fever and the lump in her neck became even more swollen and hot to the touch. After talking to the nurse on call, we took her to the ER, where they started her on an IV, did a CT scan of her neck and after determining that she had a deep tissue abscess, started her on IV antibiotics and sent us home with enough IV antibiotic to get us through the next few days.





Before this experience, we had no idea you could do IV antibiotics at home. It was so much more convenient than going back to the ER every 6 hours and was actually pretty simple to do at home. We are so grateful for that!





We then met with an ENT who switched her to oral antibiotics and assured us it would be gone in a week. A week later when it hadn’t gone away, they added a second, more powerful antibiotic and again sent us home. A week later it still hadn’t changed, so we went in for an ultrasound and the ENT decided to take some of the fluid out of Autumn’s neck to send it in to be cultured so they could know exactly what bacteria we are fighting and prescribe the right antibiotic to kill it. Let’s just say the draining procedure was quite painful and Autumn is tough as nails for getting through it.






That was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and the doctor sent us home to wait for the results of the culture. He gave us a prescription for an antibiotic “just in case” Autumn took a turn for the worse over the holiday. Sure enough, on Thanksgving night her fever came back and her neck was hurting again, so Bryce drove to Provo to get the prescription filled at a pharmacy that was actually open on Thanksgiving. We are still watiting for the culture results, and the antibiotic is working well enough to keep Autumn’s fever away but the lump remains as large as ever. Poor Autumn is so ready for some answers and to hopefully get rid of the lump she has somewhat affectionately named “Neck-Bob”. We are all ready to stop waiting and get it taken care of.




This is what Neck-Bob looks like today, December 4th. :(

We did have an awesome Thanksgiving weekend with everyone home for the first time in 3 years. We ate lots of delicious food, played games, went to the movies, decorated for Christmas and even did a little Christmas shopping (BEFORE thanksgiving). Of course, I didn’t take a single pictures of any of the fun we had, but it really was super great, especially getting to be together as a family!! It was so fun to have Megan and Devin home for a few days!



Oh, and Seth has started his religious culture unit in AP Human Geography and is loving it. I took him and a few friends to the Calvary Baptist church a couple of Sundays ago and we all loved rocking out with the rock band at church. :) Bryce is taking him to a Jewish Synagogue for a Shabbat service tonight and then we’ll be going to a Catholic Mass soon and Seth and Autumn are planning to go do Yoga together at the Hindu temple over Christmas break.

Hope you all have the merriest of Christmas seasons!! I promise to have more pictures next month - hopefully including one of Autumn’s neck without Neck-Bob. :)