The Nightmare

Andrew has complained on and off for the past month or so of a hurt cheek. Every time we asked him about it he said he bit his cheek. We told him to stop doing that and moved on.

Kevin went to Brazil on February 4th. The night after he left Andrew woke up complaining of more cheek pain. He was up on and off almost all night that night and nothing seemed to help- even pain medicine.

As the week progressed, he complained more and more and we did whatever we could to alleviate the cheek pain. I thought he had a mouth full of canker sores so gave him canker sore medicine on the spot he said hurt and he sucked on ice and took medicine for the pain.

On Wednesday he was up basically all night screaming and crying off and on. I took him to the doctor Thursday morning. She noticed his cheek looked bitten, told him to stop biting his cheek, and told me to use Motrin. On Thursday he was in pain almost all day, couldn't concentrate at school, cried a lot, and then was up basically all night long in insane pain... like screamed and cried for hours on and off. At one point I don't think he stopped screaming for over an hour. Nothing could calm him down or get him to sleep other than watching some movies, playing games on the iPad for a few minutes at a time, and sucking on ice... and even then he was really hurting. At 3am I asked him for the 10th time that night what hurt and instead of saying his cheek, he said his tooth. I scanned his mouth and discovered red gums and a very icky tooth... How I had missed that before I don't know? I think I was distracted by his constant complaints of cheek pain.

He proceeded to scream and cry in pain most of the early morning and I got him into an emergency dental appointment at 9am. Thank goodness for dentists willing to come in on their day off! As soon as the dentist got the x-rays she informed me that he had an abscessed tooth (one of his molars) which was why he was in so much pain. We got him on antibiotics and more pain meds.

Finally he fell asleep on Friday afternoon for probably the first time all week.

By Saturday he was feeling a bit better, though was still waking up a lot at night complaining of pain. His whole cheek and side of his face was swollen.

Sunday and Monday night were pretty pain-filled as well... which meant no sleep for me or poor sad Andrew. The doctor switched his antibiotics on Monday and then Monday and Tuesday nights were still bad nights with more screaming/pain (though a little bit less)... but then he actually slept for 7-8 hours afterwards on Tuesday night and since then the meds seem to be working to curb the poor little dude's infection (cross my fingers).

Wednesday night a good friend came over and gave Andrew a blessing and Andrew slept all night long that night for the first time in 9 days. He went to bed at 8pm and slept until 8am the next day. My prayers were answered and I was so grateful. My stress/anxiety was also alleviated a bit too... which was so nice.

Kevin got home Thursday morning from Brazil and I was so relieved. Today I slept in until 9am (with a brief wake up to feed Ryan from 4-4:30 and 7-7:30) and Andrew slept all night again. It felt so good to stay in bed and relax and have someone else play with the kids in the morning.

This afternoon Andrew got to go back to the dentist's office for a quick cleaning and then we sat down with the dentist and discussed the treatment plan for his infected tooth. The poor kid gets to have it extracted next Wednesday. I am really looking forward to it being gone so hopefully he doesn't have any more pain there! 

I don't think I have ever been so scared or sad in my whole life than I have been over the past two weeks. Seeing your child in pain and having no way to help them or no idea what to do (or what is wrong) is so sad. I am so grateful for all of the kind friends, family, and doctors who helped me and Andrew feel better and did so many simple acts of service for us over the past 10 days while Kevin was gone. Our family is very blessed. We had friends invite us over for meals, friends bring us treats, family and friends watch the kiddos while I went to appointments with Andrew, and friends run errands for us. The kindest thing people did was listen to me and give me hugs and just let me cry- A LOT. I am especially grateful for my neighbors who were constantly checking in on us to see how Andrew was doing and just give me a hug and a pep talk since I was so tired and sad.

My testimony of prayer was strengthened this week as I prayed harder than I ever have... especially on nights when I felt so alone, helpless, and scared. Sometimes our burdens can't be taken away from us, but we can be given peace during the burdens or trials... and that definitely happened to me this past week.

This scripture in Mosiah 24:14-15 was one that I thought about a lot...

14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

I definitely wouldn't say that I am grateful for this little trial, but I am grateful for what I learned from it. I am also so grateful to have my best buddy Kevin home! He was missed!