Well, Baby E is at it again. He has yet another ear infection. He has had this one for a month now.
How did we get to this point? Surgery? My 13 month old needs surgery? What parent ever wants to hear that?
The road so far (distant echoing of ‘Carry On My Wayward Son’):
Week 1: Starting Saturday….Runny nose, coughing, weird puffy eye thing. His ped was not in the office on Tuesday so we saw a different doctor. She said it was an viral infection, cellulitis under his eye, and prescribed Augmentin. (we have had 5 ear infections in less than a year so no more amoxcillion). Back in the office for a recheck on his eye on Wednesday, apparently its really dangerous to get sinuses up there. Everything was looking good.
Week 2: Starting Sunday….Constant diarrhea, vomiting. My poor little guy couldnt hold down anything, not even breastmilk. Saw the doctor on Monday, she was surprised he was still sick. They tested his white cell counts, gave him an antibiotic shot, and prescribed a different antibiotic. He had lost over 1 lb which put him under 5 percent for his height and weight. So he couldnt afford to lose anymore. He continued to vomit and have diarrhea until Friday night when it started to taper off. He was living on breastmilk and pedialyte.
Week 3: Runny nose, coughing begins again Saturday night and goes into full blown fever, can barely breath infection. We saw the doctor on Monday. She gave him a breathing treatment and recommended that we start treatments again with the albueral sulfate. He was also given a flu shot. She was completely flummoxed that he was still sick and his ear infection was still going strong. She referred us to an ENT. Tuesday, his eye was so swollen and red when he woke up that I called the doctors office. I didnt get a return call till 3 pm and they set us up with an After-hours Children’s clinic. We sat there for hours. We finally saw a doctor who didnt know what he was talking about who brought in a doctor who looked just like Mark Pellegrino who plays Nick/Lucifer in Supernatural. He even talked down to us so much like Lucifer. They prescribed Clindimycin which is a super power antibiotic.
He asked me 3 times if I was sure that Baby E’s eye looked the same as it did two weeks ago. I finally told him that if my phone wasnt dead from sitting in the waiting room for hours playing Zombie Farm that I would show him a picture of how it looked two weeks ago (see above). Here is the pic of Baby E on that day sleeping in the waiting room. Doesnt it look the same to you?
So then we saw the ENT on Thursday. Still with a running nose and cough. His ear was still infected. They told us tubes were our next step as well as getting his adnoids removed (I have had mine removed/scraped twice). Here is an article I found on Tympanostomy Tubes for children and one for pediatric adnoidectomy. Its good knowledge just not as helpful when you find out your baby has to have an IV and a breathing tube.
Week 4: Still sick. He was hoarse all weekend. He has been laying around, not wanting to play, nursing constantly for comfort. Now we are just awaiting his surgery tomorrow.
So despite the fact that we have tried three different antibiotics and an antibiotic shot, he is still sick. How does that happen? I have a clean house. I hardly ever take him outside (too windy) so it cant be from allergies. We dont smoke and dont allow smoking in the house. He has been exclusively breastfed for his entire life. He should have extra immunities. How did my son luck up to be the one kid who doesnt benefit from breastfeeding? Don’t get me wrong, I would do it all again in a heartbeat and will continue to breastfeed him after all this is said and done. I am just sad that my son has to go through all this.
Please pray for Baby E tomorrow. I hope this helps. I hope I get my laughing, carefree baby back and maybe they can throw in a ‘sleep through the night’ since we have been through so much.
