ANDERSON FAMILY NEWS

On Easter Morning we were waking up to easter baskets and then on our way to Disneyland!!! It was going to be a great day, until it took a DRAMATIC turn for the worst.
Carson had had a fever for a couple of days and was complaining and often pointing to his neck and saying hurt. We went to the doctor on Friday, but they thought it was probably aches and pains associated with his fever. So we noticed as we put his easter shirt on that he was holding his neck a bit funny. Then the entire ride to St. George he wouldn't relax and set his neck back on his car seat, and he had the saddest look in his eyes.

When we got to St. George we went to my aunts house for dinner. He was so onry and we noticed when we said his name that he would turn his entire body instead of just his head. I was starting to get a bit concerned at this point! Then my aunt Lori came over and Carson started crying so Chris picked him up. Then Lori said, he has a huge bump on his neck---and sure enough he did!!
Chris and I went right to the car and went to the instacare. We were starting to think maybe he had mengitis or something. At instacare they confirmed our fears. They tried to lay him down and he started screaming. They sent us out the back door and to the emergency room.
In the emergency room they weren't quit sure what was the matter. They decided to run a bunch of tests on him. They took his blood and found that his white blood cell count was like 23,000 instead of 15,000 showing that his body was fighting a major infection. They then decided to focus on the bump. They sedated him and sent him through the CT scanner. Then they got back the results.
Apparently he had a huge absess in his neck that was bigger than a grape and FULL of puss and infection. It was right by his airway and major blood vessels. I am freaking out at this point! Then they said it needed to be operated on and they didn't feel confident to do it on such a young patient so they were going to send him to Primary Children's. Then they said because they were so concerned about his airway that we needed to fly up there on life flight!!!! WHAT- I was so scared but trying to stay calm.
So Chris grabbed the keys and drove all night with my aunt and I flew in the plane to Primary Children's. We had to wait all day to operate until they could squeeze him in between all of their already scheduled appointments. It was so sad to watch him in pain hooked up to all sorts of machines!
Finally around 5 they took him in to operate. I was nervous, but also relieved because I knew it needed to be done to fix the problem. The next 2 days he was in ICU because they were worried that his airway might swell up so they kept a breathing tube in him. He was so bugged by the tube and in pain all day- it broke my heart to watch!
Finally on Wednesday he started showing signs of improvement and was out of ICU. His personality started coming back and he started to recover and smile again. WE WERE SO HAPPY!!!
On Thursday afternoon they released him and let him come home. IT WAS SUCH A HAPPY MOMENT!!
I am so grateful things turned out the way they did and that my little boy is back. It was such a scary experience and yet the entire time I felt a calm that everything was going to be okay. I am so grateful to my heavenly father for helping my little guy.
I guess absesses are quite common and COMPLETLY random. It is an infection that just finds a place to gather and grows. He will completly recover after taking antobiotics for 10 days and will not have any after effects!

Sorry so long but I needed to write about it to remember the experience. Here are a few pictures!