Salivary Gland

As it turns out, the redness and swelling just below Thomas' chin line is due to an infected salivary gland, something that they don't see too often in the NICU. The ENT (ear, nose & throat) doctors took a look at him yesterday and noticed that fluid from the swollen area was actually draining into his mouth, confirming the diagnosis. They took a sample of that fluid and sent it to the lab to assess for bacterial infection, and they prescribed warm compress, massage and potentially lemon juice drops in his mouth as treatment. The idea behind the lemon juice is that it would cause him to salivate more and thereby help flush out the infected gland, but the attending physician hasn't yet decided whether or not to go ahead with that part of the treatment since he's so small. All that said, the ENT folks noticed progress when they examined him again today, so that's great news. The poor guy has probably been in a fair amount of pain; no wonder he was fussing and crying more than usual when we were there yesterday! Nothing has grown yet in the blood sample that was sent off to the lab, so it looks like he probably does not have an infection in his blood stream; we're cautiously optimistic there. He's also been acting pretty normal and healthy otherwise, so that's a good sign too. Thanks for the prayers; we feel them and know that Thomas and his sisters (and all of us) are safe in His hands.