Butch began complaining of a lump under his arm about 2 weeks ago. He was on the boat, so I told him I would make an appointment for him for Friday when he got home. His typical caveman response was "Let's wait...it will probably go away...let's see how I feel when I get home." (insert caveman grunt here) Later that week, he said that his elbow was swollen and hurting. I again said that I could make him an appointment and again he told me "Let's wait and see how I feel."(grunt grunt)
When I picked Butch up Thursday night close to midnight, he couldn't move his left arm from beside his body. The lymph node under his arm was the size of a golf ball and his elbow was swollen, red and warm to the touch. We got home, and part of our church homegroup was still here at our house so they prayed over him and claimed that healing would manifest quickly in his body. By one o'clock AM Butch had pain shooting into his hand and numbness in his fingers.
I entered Mama bear mode. I called our 24/7 nurse hotline and the nurse who triaged him said that he needed to be seen within 4 hours so we headed off to ye olde ER.
When the DR saw Butch's hand, he ordered a CBC and blood cultures. They gave him Clindamycin in an IV and a shot of Toradol for pain and a shot of Phenergen for nausea. Dr said that because Butch chews his nails, he had contracted an infection that had traveled up his arm into the lymph nodes. Did you know you have a lymph node in your elbow? Yes you sure do! Here is a photo to explain it!
Isn't it amazing what cool pics you can find at google.com? (Side node: Our family doctor later explained that in layman's terms, "gland" is used interchangeably with "lymph node")
They sent us home with a prescription for Motrin 800 and Clinaomycin pills.
This is what Butch's hand looked like that night: (eew)
By the next evening, the lymph node under the arm was
baseball sized (NOT an exaggeration at all) and Butch was in excruciating pain. He still had the weird bump thing, and he was also dealing with fever and chills.
We went back to the ER, this time to a different hospital. This time the ER dr suspected a huge abscess under Butch's arm and sent him for a CT scan with contrast and had his nurse arranging for a surgical consult. He also hooked up an IV and drew more blood. When the CT scan was normal, they began to look more closely at the hand. "What's that you say? You work on the river? Oh my, there is no telling what type of bacterial infection you may have!" My biggest concern was that since he handles lines that fall into the river, and lines from ships from all over the world, there truly was NO IDEA what this might be or where it came from. Add to it the recent water release from the dam upstate (see previous post) and you figure all of that stagnant, old water was flooding down our river......moving on.....
Enter more IV drugs, this time Penicillin. And more pain drugs, which I didn't get the name of but wish I had because they KNOCKED MY MAN OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As Butch rested in a peaceful, magical world of unicorns and rainbows, I visited with one of the pastors from our church. We discussed hymns, and how we love contemporary praise and worship songs but they just don't take the place of the old hymns.
Finally, blood work was back and the dr was befuddled. He decided it might be fun "to lance that thing open and see what we find". A local pain shot or 12 and off he went, lancing and digging and poking and prodding. My poor man :(
Eventually, we were sent home. This time he was prescribed
Doxycycline pills and given Percoset for the pain. His finger looked like a small mummy.
The next few days were rough. The pain was bad, the swelling kept him from putting his arm by his side or finding a comfortable position to sleep in. The fever and chills did not return, thankfully, and slowly Butch began to feel some better. The ER dr had us follow up with our regular doctor a few days later who added Prendisone to the mix because the wound was not healing as well as he would have liked and the swelling was still pretty bad. He was also quite annoyed that neither emergency doc bothered to swab the bump/incision for wound cultures.
Thursday came and it was time for Butch to go back to work. Praise God, his hand is almost back to normal and the lymph node under his arm is almost normal sized again too. I spoke with him about an hour ago and by the grace of God he is doing ok. He has been working but the jobs have so far been relatively easy and he has managed fairly well. The hand and armpit are ok, but the elbow is still VERY sore. Who knew we had lymph nodes in our elbows????
So tonight,when you pray for your spouse, would you do this tugboat wife a big favor and say a prayer for my man too? Butch thanks you, and so do I!
Here are a few Scriptures to reference for God's healing:
Psalm 41:3
The LORD sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness. (NIV)
Psalm 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (NIV)
Isaiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his
wounds we are healed. (NIV)
Isaiah 58:8
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing
will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the
glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. (NIV)
Jeremiah 17:14
Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. (NIV)
Jeremiah 30:17a For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord (NIV)
