Poor Hunter!!

So here's the story on Hunter. Last week Hunter noticed a bump coming up on his stomach. He didn't think anything of it, until it started getting bigger (about the size of a large marble) and got a black dot on it in addition to a fever. Hunter's mom along with Jamie decided to take him to Dell Childrens Hospital. In addition to that large bump there were several small ones surrounding a large scrape Hunter had on his knee from football practice. It turned out to be Staph. That was last Wednesday, they sent him home with oral antibiotics, and told him to come back on Saturday...the day of Ava's party (why I look so ragged in all the pictures from her party).

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That morning when they went back for a follow up, they told them that he was not responding to the antibiotics, and that his cultures came back and it was a much more serious for of Staph than they had first thought. He would need to be hospitalized and put on an IV antibiotic. They had to cut open all of his sores to clean them out, and have a 12 inch wicking system put in each sore to drain out the staph. OUCH!! They had to change these daily and only gave him Tylenol with Codine for the pain. I felt SO bad for him!! I can't imagine having that done....having someone yanking out 12 inches of long packing out of a sore with barely any pain meds. You feel so bad and so helpless when one of your kids has to go through something you yourself would dread having happen.

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He did well in the hospital and was released on Monday. He will miss the rest of this week of school...which means he will miss a week and a half of school which I am not too happy about, and cannot play football for the rest of the season. They don't want him to bust open any of the healing sores. :( I feel really bad about him missing the rest of his season.

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So, you may be asking yourself how did Hunter get Staph?? Well this part makes me REALLY mad!! Every day in football they have to be in full practice uniform to practice. Imagine for a moment 60 or so 13 and 14 yr old teenage boys out in the Texas heat every day in full pads practicing and sweating! Well, they only wash these uniforms ONCE A WEEK!!! SO GROSS!!! We had NO idea! So, Hunter kept rescraping his knee and then putting on his disgusting old sweaty clothes that had been stewing each day in yesterdays filth and sweat...containing all kinds of gross stuff....including staph and fungus. Oh, did I mention that one if his armpits is covered in a fungus??!!

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When we contacted the school they said that they would clean the locker room and wash the uniforms, but that there is no way for them to wash the uniforms every day. They are school property, so the boys are not allowed to take them home and clean them. Disgusting right?? Isn't this some sort of health code violation?? If I were a parent and I made my kids wear the same clothes every day and only washed them once a week, wouldn't I get in trouble with Child Protective Services?!! Would any of the coaches/teachers/school board reps work out in the same clothes every day and only wash them once a week? NO WAY!! But they are making these children do it, and now mine got sick because of it!! I don't know what I am going to do....I don't know if there is anything I can do....but I can't just do nothing. I bet you the majority of other parents don't know they don't wash their clothes, and that Hunter got sick because of it. If anyone has any ideas please let me know!

Hunter, Jamie, Ava and I wheeling around Hunter outside the hospital. The first time in days he was allowed out of his room. (Can you see Ava licking Jamie's hair? She is obsessed with hair. She will pretend to pick at your hair and eat it...hahaha.) Playing in one of the water gardens outside the hospital. Dell Childrens is amazingly beautiful and has so many neat places and things for the children to do.
Uncle Bryan and Hunter
Bryan (Jamie's older brother) Laurie, Abbie and Jake. They drove all the way from College Station (2 hrs) just to spend an hour visiting with Hunter. SO SWEET!! It meant SO much to Hunter that they did that just to see him! Thank you guys!
Hunter and Ava. They both loved being wheeled around the hospital together...racing down the halls!

Hunter still has the wicking system in place. He went back yesterday and had it changed out. They said he is looking good, and will go back again in a couple of days. For Hunters sake, I hope that they take that stuff out for good! Please keep him in your prayers that he makes a full recovery....and that no one else in the family gets it!