Mastitis...One Year Later?

Well folks, I think this title is pretty self explanatory. I came down with a bout of mastitis about a week and a half ago. I know I mentioned I had been sick last week but didn't go into details.Now I'm back to 100% and am ready to document my "experience".

Well after a busy few days I noticed a painful lump in my right breast. (yes, this blog post will contain talk of the tata's. Sorry, it's a post about a breast infection. ha!) Emma Claire and I were leaving a birthday party so I nursed her right as I felt the pain, hoping some massage and emptying the breast would clear up whatever was causing the pain. It did help at first but I continued to feel pain. We stopped at the grocery on the way home and I was feeling okay. By the time we got back home and I took off my shirt to examine what was going on my breast had swollen to about twice it's normal size. Once I put EC to bed I took a hot bath, massaged, and pumped to fully empty the breast. Then I headed to bed hoping that all of my efforts to unclog what I thought was a plugged duct had worked. When I woke my breast had swollen even more and was very tender. I still didn't have a fever and was convinced it was just a clogged duct. I slept in, massaged, nursed, pumped and did all I could to make it better. Thinking that it was going to resolve itself I sent the husband on to work and proceeded with my day. 

I should mention...this all happened on a Saturday, if it had happened on a weekday I would have already been to the doctor, no questions asked. I was dreading having to go to urgent care or the emergency room. By the evening I was still convinced I could make it until Monday to see my regular doctor. At about 5:30 I started feeling even worse. I took my temp and it was 101. Then I re-examined my breast and saw that it was bright red. It appeared out of no where. So I was convinced by this point that I did indeed have mastitis. 

So there I was, running a fever, a boob the size of a cantaloupe, a screaming child, and a husband at work. I knew I had to go get medical attention because it would only get worse and I really didn't want to end up in the hospital at 3am. So I called up my friend Sonja to see if there was any way she could go with me to the doctor and if her hubby could keep EC. She said of course, so we headed over to their house. By the time we were on our way I decided to call the hubs and have him go ahead and leave work and come home. I knew I was in too much pain to care for EC alone that night. 

 Emma Claire and Tylar had a great time together and when I left her they were both squealing in the ball pit. Made my momma heart happy to know she would be well taken care of when I was gone. 

All I have to say about the time spent in the urgent care clinic is SONJA IS AWESOME. Not only did she sit in a clinic full of sick people with me, she came back in the room with me, watched me get blood drawn, heard me talk about my boobs constantly, and texted the husband updates for me. Oh and she took this rockin' picture of me.

You can actually SEE how swollen my boob was. It was awful. ha!

The doctor confirmed that I did have mastitis. She put me on some pretty strong antibiotics and one co-pay and $10 for meds later I was on my way. I have to say I was pretty pleased with my urgent care visit. Much quicker than the ER and everyone was so nice and helpful. 

When I got home I ate some food and took my first round of antibiotics. Well a little while later I started feeling worse and sure enough my temp had spiked to 103. Thankfully I had the husband at home to care for EC. Once she was in bed I took a hot bath and went to sleep around 9. I woke in the middle of the night and my fever had broken, praise the Lord. I honestly can't remember the last time I felt that crummy. I was so out of it and remember saying, "this is worse than giving birth." It was bad, y'all. 

The next morning we all got up early so that I could get some more antibiotics in my system and the little lady and daddy got dressed and ready for church. While they were gone I relaxed and enjoyed the quiet house.
 

They are both darling. She was SO excited to go to church with her Daddy. 

God puts you through certain things for a reason, of this I am certain. While I was most definitely miserable and in terrible pain, several great things came out of this for us. For one the hubs was able to get an unexpected reprieve from work. Well from his "job", ha! He worked his hiney off at home. He was such an amazing help and I couldn't' have done it without him. We were also covered in prayers from all of our wonderful church family. And we were served several delicious meals from sweet friends.

The first night we had a meal delivered our friends brought us barbeque and it was AMAZING. I had just been telling the hubs that barbeque sounded great and then next thing I knew my friend was emailing me with a few dinner options and barbeque was one of them! Prayer answered. It's the simple things.

Along with dinner our friends brought over their kiddos and Emma Claire was in HEAVEN. She LOVES this sweet little girl and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. They played and giggled together while we chatted. EC was dancing in this picture and showing off her new toys to her friend. 

 On New Years Eve we had some more great friends drop by a TON of yummy food. We snacked on it for days. I was so grateful.

Also, since I was on antibiotics I couldn't indulge in the typical "holiday" drinks so I made myself a fun little strawberry lime-aid. It was quite tasty. 

My sweet little girl on NYE. I couldn't get all dressed up but she could! I loved her outfit. It was a birthday gift from EC's friend Zoey.

I am happy to report that my boob has returned to normal size, my milk production didn't decrease, and I am feeling 100% again. Mastisis is a nasty infection that is NOT to be taken lightly. I'm thankful I got medical attention quickly and was able to get started on antibiotics right away. Who knew you could get mastisis this late in the nursing game. It really isn't common at all when nursing past one year. But anything is possible I suppose!

 I am so grateful for all of the help I got from friends and my husband. Being sick is such a different ballgame when you're the mom. It takes a village to cure a sick mommy ;-)