Treating an infant

The whinning. The crying. The shaking. The lack of eating. The lack of pottty time. The sad looks. The tears. The cuddle.

What is a dad to do when his baby is sick and unable to tell you what's wrong? Sunday night I noticed his routine was a bit off and I did not pay too much attention to this; he came from spending 5 days with his grandparents and I thought this was just a natural transition or at least it was not uncommon to avoid food for a while.

The next morning, I noticed excessive licking of the tail and a closer look showed an unusually large growth spotting blood. We ran to vet and they identified an infected ruptured growth--yuck. I didn't have a free hand to take that picture. Well, two plus hours later he had surgery to remove the growth and patch up what is left of his tail.

For the past two days (going on 3) I have been monitoring his rest (quite little), food intake (practically none), tail swelling (seems ok), tail licking (24/7), and bowel movements (which stopped altogether). My sleep schedule had been replaced with watching him. I fear that if not monitored properly he can lose his tail.

I repackaged his bandage and now I wait for the lab tests.

Any suggestions on how to find balance would be welcomed & appreciated. Thanks

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T