We saw Gracie’s usual infectious disease doctor yesterday to follow up from the frustrating appointment with the surgeon Tuesday. As usual, I left feeling like my questions had been answered and Gracie would get help. The doctor thought her finger looked worse than when she last saw it, ordered blood work to check infection markers, and referred us to an orthopedist who works with our usual ortho doc to evaluate for possible osteomyelitis. She also prescribed antibiotics but told me to wait to fill the prescription until we knew what direction we were going to take with the finger.

Once again, I’m impressed with the lesser-known children’s hospital in town. As usual, I left the appointment feeling like my concerns had been heard and addressed and that we would get help. This is a stark contrast to the experience we had Tuesday at the nationally-renowned hospital, and a stark contrast to most of the experiences we’ve had at that hospital.

I am still worried about my girl. She is getting infections that are more and more serious, and the antibiotics are less and less helpful. She is allergic to one of the major players in the antibiotic lineup and the other two that are comparable are not as effective for her. She is so young – it is scary to think that at the ripe old age of 3 she is having difficulty with antibiotic effectiveness. It’s scary that she perhaps has another bone infection and the antibiotics are not working as well. It’s scary to think that she keeps biting her fingers – ripping off fingernails, getting blood blisters, and opening wounds – and introducing mouth bacteria into fresh wounds. (She tore off another fingernail Tuesday night and it is a pretty ugly wound. She also has a new blood blister on a finger, a deep purple bruise of unknown origin under a fingernail, she tore off a thumbnail a couple weeks ago and it’s not growing back, and of course there’s the red, swollen finger we’ve been evaluating.)

Although there is much to worry about for the future, I am relieved that we have a good team of doctors on our side. It is the scary infection cloud’s silver lining.