Ears

Michael never had an ear infection until he was 2 years old and in daycare for the first time.  Of course, Noah got his very first ear infection during this daycare time frame also-- he was just shy of one year old.  Both boys continued to have ear trouble from October to February-- their whole time in daycare.  Once my mother in law was recovered from surgery and could watch my boys again during my workdays, the ear infections went away.

Enter, kindergarten year of school.  Michael began school in August, while Noah and Avery have stayed with my mother in law during the day when I'm at work.  Michael had one or two ear infections in the fall.  Mild.  Brief.  However, at the church Christmas party in December, he spiked a fever of 103 and our journey began again.

Between Christmas and now, Michael has had 6 ear infections-- or maybe it's all the same one.  Take your pick.  The right ear has been especially bothersome and stubborn at getting rid of the infection.  Oral antibiotics suppress the infection, but once the 10-days are over, the infection comes right back.  These ear infections hurt so badly that Michael will cry out in the night from pain, or he'll cry at school from the pain.  We tried four different oral antibiotics to no avail.  An ear infection is actually one of the reasons we came home early from the beach cottage at the end of March.  Michael refused to eat (which, for a Type One diabetic, this is an issue).  One evening, he fell asleep on the couch.  Abnormal.  That's one sure fire way you know your kid is sick-- when they stop acting like themselves.  I checked his temperature (thank you God, that I brought the thermometer).  It was 102.  A quick dose of Motrin and a peek in the throat.  Yikes.  Major redness and swelling.  It was a Saturday night 5 hours from home and a solid 30 minutes from anywhere with an Urgent Care.

I felt sick and lost and hopeless.  The pediatric nurse line encouraged us to follow our gut.  She said we could try out an urgent care, but they're not always known for being nice to kids or knowing what Type One Diabetes is.  It was 6:30pm. We hustled and packed up the van in record time and got the kiddos all loaded up.  They fell asleep as we were leaving town and we booked it home.  That was the fastest trip I've ever taken.  We didn't speed-- we still made it home within the typical 4.5-5 hour time frame. But without kids asking if we were there yet or saying they were bored, the trip home was very enjoyable for the most part!  We arrived home at midnight.

Within thirty minutes of getting home, Michael threw up.  This made my heart sink.  You never know how badly a bout of vomiting will make a Type One diabetic sick.  We debated going to the ER.  But his blood sugars were in range.  And he did not have a fever.  We made an appointment the very next morning (on a Sunday) for him to be seen at our pediatrician's office.

Michael was diagnosed with strep throat and another ear infection.

We started the fourth round of oral antibiotic.

In 17 days, I was back at the doctor's office with him.  The right ear was infected again.  This time, oral antibiotics were not a choice.  It was a 2-3 day round of shots.  The first shot was murder.  Michael threw the largest temper tantrum of his life and I was dumb-founded, embarrassed, and angry.  Here was a kid who used to get multiple shots to stay alive in our days pre-insulin pump.  Why would he be so upset about a shot??? But I had to reign myself in.  He's a kid.  Shots hurt-- no matter who you are.  And, trauma.  Just because he had to have shots daily when he was 2 doesn't mean he enjoyed them and it doesn't protect him from being hurt from them now.

Day 2 went much better.  The rule was that a doctor would look in his ear and hope to see significant improvement in the right ear (apparently the shots could work that fast).  If improvement wasn't seen, then a 3rd day of shots would be done.  Our luck-- no improvement.  So we came back a third day.

Within 12 days we were back.  This is the benefit of having a kid be able to tell you exactly where the pain is.  Michael came out of his room that morning crying and saying "my left ear really hurts."  No fever.  But I knew he wasn't lying.  Gave him some Motrin and sent him to school, telling him that I'd be there soon to pick him up for an appointment (I couldn't call til 8:00 when they opened).  The right ear was cleared up.  The left ear was infected.

We were given pills to try.  We're on day 8 of 10 days worth of pills.  He's been a champ.  We've cut up the huge pills and put them in spoonfuls of ice cream for him to swallow.  He's tried swallowing the cut-up pills with water once, which is a huge accomplishment.  The easiest and fastest way, we've found, is to cut up the pill and put it in spoonfuls of yogurt.

This latest ear infection diagnosis comes with a referral to an Ear Nose Throat Specialist.  I was asked if I had a preference.  I do.  It has to be in the same city as our Children's Hospital.  I'm against tubes all the way.  But if that's the only option available, then I insist that it be done at our Children's Hospital so that the endocrinologist staff is on stand-by.  Most of the time, surgeries require fasting after midnight, and I just don't want to deal with the effects of that on blood sugar.  And I don't want to deal with putting him under anesthesia.  There's always a risk.  I'm not ready to face that.  Also, with the force of his temper tantrum on the first day of shots, I don't even want to think about what we might face if he had to have an IV and realize we couldn't stay with him the whole time.

So I'm praying that there's an alternate solution.

But, in positive news, we have already received our referral and it's with an ENT on staff at Children's.  The departments of Children's can see other department's appointments and could see that we will already be in that city on a certain day in May to meet with the endocrinologist for our bi-yearly appointment.  They scheduled his ENT visit to be that morning so that we only have to drive into this city one time... for now.  Unfortunately, the appointments are on a day when my mother in law is out of town.  Aaron is coming with me to the appointment, as he's done for the past few endocrinology appointments.  But it means we don't have childcare for Noah and Avery.  My mom and my other mother in law (Aaron's stepmom), have to work that day, and since they'll be attending Michael's kindergarten graduation later that week I didn't want to ask either of them to take off an additional day.  So Aaron and I will have all 3 kids in tow.  I know it'll be a long crazy day, but that's my expectation, so it can only get better or stay the same, right?

If you made it to the end of this post, thank you!

Hopefully in May I'll be able to provide some wonderful update about alternative therapy for constant ear infections.

Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba