After his bath tonight I noticed a scratch on Frost's foot looks infected. It has a red line ascending from the wound towards his leg.
I called the nursing hotline and we suspect he has lymphangitis from a strep infection. The nurse checked the diagnostics and he has:
1) At least 48 hours post the wound occurring.
2) Reddening around the wound.
3) A yellow crust, seepage or grey pus.
4) A red line ascending towards the heart.
5) His tetanus shot up to date.
6) He has no fever.
7) It is very tender / hot to touch.
So, the book says to send him DIRECTLY TO THE PROVIDERS OFFICE. Since he is asleep we have deferred that action till the morning but I have marked the red line with a pen and we will check he has no fever before Josh goes to bed.
It is hard to know how seriously to take these things. At one point the nurse was considering sending us the ER but both she and I had these infections as kids from running barefoot (her in Miami and me in South Africa). We think he will survive till morning.
I am reassuring myself that there are many less competent parents than myself who would not notice such small red scratches and there are not kids dropping like flies from strep infections.
Still, Frost had one in his nose / finger 3 years ago and the pediatrician got very excited about that.
More later.
It looks somewhat like this:
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