The cheek
For all my wonderful computer friends who left sweet messages about Mia’s boo boo….thank you, thank you, thank you.
The swelling seems to be going down a bit. You can see in the photo above the swelling and mottling in her left cheek. The angle of the picture makes it look pretty good, and it is improving, thank God. The absess size remains about the same, maybe a bit smaller (I hope).
So, we are still in a holding pattern and are very hopeful that it will resolve on its own. It could take as long as 6 weeks we are told.
DO NOT ALLOW YOUR KIDS TO LEAVE THE BATHROOM WITH THEIR TOOTHBRUSHES.
Make them stand at the sink, or for the wee little ones, have them sit down while they brush their teeth.
If she had had the brush at a slightly different angle, it would have gone down her throat and the hematoma would have potentially blocked her airway. Or imagine the absess poised just behind her spine, with the potential to infiltrate into her spinal column.
Mind numbing, I tell you.
Once I watched a “Rescue 911″ episode and nearly the same thing happend. The kid was running down the hall with his toothbrush, and collided with his brother. The brush went into the back of his throat… and the mother was tempted to pull it out but the 911 dispatcher told her not to. They rushed him to emergency surgery. When he finally came out of surgery later—they said that if the mother had taken the toothbrush out…the boy would have bled to death in seconds.
After that very moment, I stopped letting my kids walk around with the toothbrush.
What a scarey ordeal you’ve been through.
What a beautiful picture of her tho–despite the boo-boo!