Jess had a sore throat since about Saturday January 3rd. On Tuesday (the 6th) I took her up to the Urgent Care clinic in Orem. They took a throat swab, said it wasn't strep, and sent her home believing it was a viral infection (as we all know, modern medicine can do basically nil for viral infections). So I brought her home and she stayed at home mostly either on the couch or in bed for the next 6 days. I spent the majority of my time there making Jell-o, pudding, milkshakes and other soft foods. Her throat began to swell up a little, getting worse over the course of the week.

On Monday she decided it hurt enough that she would go to the Urgent Care clinic again. By this time she was weak from not eating much for 9 days and throwing up a couple of times in the previous 48 hours. We got to the Urgent Care clinic and waited probably 30-45 minutes to be seen. The doctor looked at her, examined the swelling all about her neck extending from ears to collar bone and said, "That's unusual." He consulted with an ENT specialist over the phone and took some blood (after 4 tries). Her white count was through the roof so she had an infection. They decided it would be prudent to get a CT scan as well to see if she had an abscess.

So we got sent down to Orem Community hospital. We registered and got the CT scan and waited to get a call from the Urgent Care doctor. He called after discussing the results with the radiologist. He then had us wait while he called the ENT specialist. After about 30 minutes the ENT specialist calls and tells us to go down to UVRMC in Provo to the ER where Jess will be admitted for surgery. (Legally he wasn't allowed to tell me much since I'm not family and Jess hadn't given him specific authorization to speak to me, she was lying on a couch down the hall being miserable.) So I drove her down there and called some friends who could call her parents and let them know what was happening.

We got to the ER and only waited about 10 minutes in the room full (very full) of people waiting. As soon as we were through the doors the staff went to town. A nurse, technician, and doctor met us in the room and immediately began drawing more blood (trying to anyways, mostly unsuccessfully). Soon thereafter the ENT specialist (who we now learn is actually an ENT surgeon and would be performing the operation) comes in to explain the situation. She had a very large abscess ("only see one this size a few times in a career.") in her throat which could quickly become life threatening if it spread any further into her chest. As he was explaining the details we notice that the entire surgical team is waiting outside the room and the anesthesiologist squeezes his way in to ask his questions. (Before this point BJ and Tianna had arrived as well). They quickly whisked her away to the OR and sent us all to the waiting area.

The surgery was successful without complication and they moved her to the ICU for the night. We were allowed to visit despite not being immediately family mainly because none of her family members live in Utah. This morning she was moved to a regular room where she has been recovering well. We're not sure how long she'll be in here for. Before going into surgery she asked if she'd be able to go to the Symphony on Thursday (we had tickets for Vivaldi's Four Seasons), she was emphatically told that she would not be at the concert.

So that's been the fun times of the week.

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