It's always something

One thing about my blog - it's not one of those that goes weeks at a time and when you check back, I've written, "Nothing to report."
Wes and I got to spend some quality time in the ER last night. When he went to bed about 8:30, his jaw bone was sore. When he came crying out of his room about 9:45, his neck right under his ear looked like he was hiding a golf ball in there. Such was my hurry to get him to the ER, I didn't even take a picture.

Of course, remembering his recent ER visit which entailed an IV, he is wailing that he doesn't want a shot the whole way there, through the admission process and while we wait for the doctor.

When we left a while later, it was with an unclear diagnosis and instructions to return this morning for admission if it didn't look better. The possibilities were 1) Mumps; 2) something "nasty" going on with his tonsils; or 3) a clogged salivary gland.

They got him started on some antibiotics and pain medicine and we came home to spend the night applying heat and massaging the area, hoping to break open the clog - if that is what it was.

About 6, the swelling was starting up the back of his head and I was already planning in my mind who I could call to take my place in organizing the church fellowship this evening -- which is an Elvis show and for which we are making 250 peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

I was getting ready to head to Wal-Mart to purchase the final part of the treatment plan, when Bill woke up and said he would go. He returns a bit later and Wesley inserts the magic "pill" and good things start to happen. Within minutes, you could see the swelling start to go down.

So what is this magic 99 cent pill called?

Lemon drops. The sour in them automatically causes a rush of saliva and this seems to have pushed the clog out. I didn't come up with this brilliant idea - it was on the discharge papers. After the antibiotic instruction, the pain med instruction, a line telling me to elevate his head, one telling me to massage the swollen area, another telling me to apply warm compresses 4 times a day for 20 minutes is this bit of helpful info.

Suck on lemon drops. I think they should have made that #1.