One of those days

My kids had one of those days yesterday. That alone isn't that notable, but they chose yesterday to both have a bad day. At the same time. At the same time as it was pouring down rain. It started with Meg's ear follow up appointment. I was surprised to hear that her latest ear infection didn't clear up with the Suprax as expected. Next up, Augmentin. She had that last about six months ago (ages in the life of a 16 month old) and it caused some diarrhea. But that could have been due to something she ate or the antibiotics. I guess we'll see. The concern now is that this may be speeding up the timetable on ear tubes.

In any event, after the visit, we dropped off the prescription at the CVS drive-through (we're now good friends with the folks there). Then I needed to go to Target for a few things. There, they both proceeded to whine and wiggle through the entire store. If one wasn't crying, the other was and then they both were. Meg is now of an age (and temperament) that when she doesn't want something, she can really arch her back and make it difficult to carry her. So I couldn't contain her in the cart or control her on her feet. And Andy was just crybabying the whole way. Ugh.

Then we needed to head into the library to return DVDs from our trip and pick up a new one. This whole exercise usually takes five minutes, but Andy was still whining about everything (including all the "strangers" in the library and Meg was running away from me and/or climbing on chairs. It got so bad I had one librarian helping Andy who was crying because I had to run to grab Meg and he was crying that I had left. Then as we checked out, Meg ran off and I had a nice lady behind me with three kids of her own holding her while I checked out and Andy cried about not wanting to check out at a certain station. Big stuff.

We went home for a nap (hers at least) then we trekked into town to see an old high school friend who was visiting with her two kids and staying in Dupont Circle. In the afternoon, they were better, but I did discover upon returning that when Andy was having "quiet time," what he did was write all over his pillows with markers. Good times. I had several glasses of wine last night.

And then? Both kids slept until 8 this morning, which is unheard of. Then they were then precious angels most of the day, playing, smiling, eating properly. Meg took a power nap in the afternoon and I even got a nap in (which always makes me in a better mood.) What a difference a day makes sometimes.

She walks!

Well, not walk exactly, but she took two or three steps in a row! Over and over again! She was so excited for the cheering and it was great because Bjorn was here as was his mom to witness it. A nice cap to a nice, but chilly, Easter.

In preparation for the holiday, Meg came down with her XVXI cold of the season last week. She had the typical runny nose and cough, but this time she had a strange new symptom -- red cheeks that she wanted to scratch along with watery eyes. No fever, which pointed to allergies, but with a holiday weekend, it made sense to get into the ped just in case.

I was surprised to hear she had a beginning right ear infection. I was also surprised to hear that the mucus under her cheeks can occasionally cause her face to burn/itch, which is why she was scratching. I know, strange. She's on antibiotics for the ear infections and antihistamine for the itching.

I saw Dr. Murphy, the other doctor in the practice, instead this time and was asking about ear tubes as if it was a fait accompli. He said not to rush into it, as the season is just about over and hopefully by the fall her immune system is that much better. I explained that Andy didn't get tubes until he was nearly three.

"Does he have allergies?"
"Um, I don't know."
Looking at him. "Actually, it looks like he might. Look at his nose. And the bags under his eyes. Does he always look like that?"
"Well, the black eye is from falling off a chair."

He explained that the "shiner" is a classic look among kids with allergies, who often have ear problems because their ears are "sticky." He recommended an allergy work-up, which we're doing next Friday. Supposedly it doesn't involve needles, just a skin reaction test that takes about 20 minutes. I already have to take Meg back to get her ear follow-up. The nice thing about my Fridays off is I almost always get to spend them at a pediatrician.

Classic

Andy was playing with one of his old toys, a dog that when you touch it, talks back and sings song.

"Ding-a-ling. I see you," says the bear."
"No you don't," says Andy.

Where did this kid get his sarcasm?

Both kids are (fingers crossed) doing better on the new antibiotic. Meg's sinus infection (i.e. goopy eyes) appears better as does her super thick and chunky runny nose. What's left now is a dry cough. It's unclear if that's part of the sinus infection working its way through or something else new and fun.

Andy was a total pill yesterday morning. We met the famous Lizzie G. at the Gap Outlet in Old Town where he proceeded to whine and complain for the entire 1 1/2 hours we were together, even with mint chocolate chip ice cream. He then came home and took a four hour nap so I suppose the kid wasn't quite right after all.

We had a dinner to celebrate Mark being in town where Bjorn made his local favorite sausage risotto for everyone. It was nice to all be together. What's funny is Jennifer is now hinting that her month stay with us may turn into a longer stay and Mark is saying he might be home for the summer. It would be sort of fun having everyone all together although I might have to invest in bunk beds or something for the big kids to share a room. I don't think I could stand one of them sleeping on the couch in the basement as it would make that room off limits until noon most mornings and a mess if we had guests over. The logistics are easy enough though.

I'm in the middle of the fourth Twilight book. Sure, it's crap, but at this point, it's familiar crap. I just wish Bella wasn't such a victim. I haven't quite figured out why everyone in the book loves her so much as it's not like she's out sewing scarves for the homeless or anything. And Jacob -- dang, he seems a whole lot more fun than Edward. Am I alone here?

Ear infections part MXCII

I took Andy in for his post-ear infection check. Even Meg's sinus infection, i.e. goopy eye problem, was looking better so I mostly had a couple of questions about nose bleeds, adding dairy back in, and teething. I was not expecting to hear that both kids have ear infections. Apparently they're not super red and nasty (meaning really painful) but they are definitely not well and need some more medicine to clear them up. Apparently Andy's ear infection just never really cleared and Meg's sinus infection just worked its way over to the ears. The prescription was Suprax (at the bargain price of $50 per). Poor guys.

I explained that Meg was up somewhat inconsolable for about an hour or so the other night. Dr. Staats predicted that was more likely due to teething than her ears and encouraged good use of Motrin and Tylenol. While all four molars are through the gums, she predicts it will be several more weeks before they are all done moving.

I asked about tubes again for Andy. She predicted we'd get through March, the last month of cold and flu season and likely not have problems again. But if this infection refuses to clear up, then we'll talk about it again. She said it's pretty common to have to do them again, even at this age, and now that he's four, they'd likely take the adenoids out as well. I explained our theory of getting the tubes for Meg in late summer in time for the season. She thought that made a lot of sense, unless of course, the latest infection refuses to die. So now we're on antibiotics for another couple of weeks and seeing where this takes us.

So it as 70 last weekend only to snow this morning. March is turning out to be pretty wacky.

Diagnosis: Teething

Meg had a rough night last night. She woke up wailing around 9:45 (naturally as I had just settled into watching 30 Rock with Bjorn). Nothing would soothe her, it was really weird. After a bit, I walked her outside for a few minutes and then fed her some cheerios. She seemed hungry, which would make sense. The chicken hadn't eaten much in the past couple of days. So I fed her a steady supply of carbs. At about 10:45, she was clearly tired, but not showing signs of settling on her own so I finally had to put her in bed and let her scream for about 10-15 minutes. That is always hard, but since it was clear that nothing was working to settle her, it wasn't as bad as it could be (also since it worked and she went to sleep). I finally nodded off about midnight for her to wake up around 5 a.m. and do the same thing to Bjorn for two hours.

I packed her off to the pediatrician's in the morning, convinced that she had an ear infection now. His diagnosis -- teething. Sure enough, I knew that last molar was coming in, but he thinks the combination of cold and sore throat probably combined to make her pretty unhappy. He also thinks it can be kind of scary for them when it hurts. He told me I was likely underdosing the Tylenol and Motrin and suggested going up from a 1/2 teaspoon to a full teaspoon and to give one or the other every two hours, as needed. For good measure, he also checked Andy's ears which are showing signs of improvement. Now the pus in his ear is gone, but the fluid is still there for the moment.

Mark is due home this week for Spring Break and Andy is delighted. He's been asking to make hummus for Markie for about three days.

And check out the adorable pictures of us as kids? That's me and my sisters and a family friend on the left. Aren't we just adorable?

Diagnosis

I stayed home yesterday and got both kids to the doctor yesterday. Meg's vomitus interuptus from the evening before had subsided, but she woke up with a goopy eyes. Andy woke up Wednesday morning with a fever of 103. I forget that Wednesdays only one doctor is working so we couldn't get in until noon. Fortunately, after sleeping from 6:00 p.m. to 5:45 a.m., Meg was tired and took a good morning nap.

Anyhoo, the diagnosis -- ear infection for him and sinus infection for her. Prescription -- omnicef for both. Dr. Murphy said that the vomiting was due to the congestion dripping into her tummy and irritating her stomach. He recommended staying away from dairy for a few days since it can lead to increased mucus and also irritate the stomach. It's strange to stay away from milk products. I forget how much dairy she eats, from cheese to yogurt to milk.

With the kids being sick and thus turning my world upside down, I haven't had a chance to talk about how great it was having my mom here last week. A running joke with my sister has been that she taught Megan (as a joke) to say:

"Megan, what does grandmother like?"
"Grandmother loves malt liquor!"

It worked so great that we taught Andy to do that as well with phenomenal results. Jennifer loves asking Andy in front of friends what grandmother likes. When Mom was visiting, we braved going out to dinner with two little kids. Andy wanted hummus, which wasn't on the menu so he asked Mom to read him the menu to see if it was on there. She was kindly complying when he turned to her out of nowhere:

"Grandmother, is malt liquor your favorite?"

We nearly fell out of our chairs. Then we called Elizabeth.

Lather, rinse, repeat

After a rough couple of days, I am starting to believe that I won't die. By Friday evening, I was starting to feel better. Saturday I was better with the help of Dayquil and Advil and today I haven't needed anything except the tea with honey Bjorn made me earlier. My voice, however, sounds like I smoke four packs of cigarettes and then ate gravel. I would think it would be sexy like Phoebe Buffet ala Friends, but apparently not as I think my voice makes Bjorn think I'm mad about everything.

In the midst of all this, Andy came to our bed at 7 a.m. yesterday morning, before Meg was even awake, naturally, to tell us that his ear hurt. Our pediatrician's office has walk-in hours Saturday morning so at 8:30 we traipsed ourselves over there to find out he was indeed in the early stages of an ear infection. I must say this thing where he can tell me where it hurts so I can fix it is so remarkable, I can't even believe it. This is almost bigger than him not crapping in his pants any longer. Almost. He's now on Augmentin for 10 days. The strep test, fortunately, came back negative.

Everyone was feeling well enough though that we braved the illnesses to hit the George Mason University basketball game Saturday afternoon. I've been meaning to go, well, for years and had finally psyched myself up for it. Lizzie G was even coming in from Alexandria to go with us. I drove by in the morning to buy tickets around 10:45 for a noon game and fans were already lining up. It was their homecoming, but still, it was pretty exciting to see. They also managed to win. The tickets for three adults and one kid were very reasonable -- $52. Four hot dogs and four drinks were a less reasonable $40, but that just speaks to bad planning on our part. We'll do better next time.

Meg was actually much less wiggly than Andy during the game, despite the fact that she was missing her normal nap at that time. But both kids were generally well behaved. The game was close, but Mason pulled out a win at the end. And we even got to watch a proposal on the court (it was Valentine's Day, right?) It was a combination of "aw" and "ew." The worst part was that sitting in front of us was a woman I play indoor against and her totally annoying husband. I recognize them because he comes to our games and sits on their bench and yells out instructions and criticisms during the game. I find it totally annoying and I don't even have to see him every week. I can only imagine what the other women think.

Ears

We had appointment for both kids with the pediatriac ear, nose and throat doctor today. It seemed like a good idea to have Andy with the nurse practitioner at 9:40 followed by an appointment with the physician at 10:00, but it was a long-ish morning in their office.

Note to doctors everywhere -- you have good toys in the waiting rooms. Would it kill you to put some of those in the waiting rooms, too? Not a sermon, just a thought.

Andy went first. One tube was out and lodged in some ear wax (doesn't that sound disgusting). The other was also out, but still touching the ear drum. She took long tweezers, laid him out and pulled the left one out. The right one is no longer functional, but she said it would H-U-R-T to take it out so we've got an appointment in May to come take another look unless it falls out between now and then.

Meg then moved on to meet with the doctor. Based on her SIX ear infections in the past six months and her family history, my girl is a candidate for the surgery. We could schedule it today and have it done in March sometime. While I'm sold on tubes, the question now is when. They clearly changed Andy's life for the better, but she is just so young that I hesitate. Plus, we're coming on spring/summer when things are generally pretty clear up until the next fall and winter. So we could wait until the summer to get it done, she'd be 18 months then and since the tubes last a year, that would put her at 2 1/2 after that and hopefully ready to outgrow the problem (although Andy did get his first set at nearly 3).

All that said, if we could do the surgery now (well, March) and go ahead and knock it out, wouldn't that be all the better? Then if she does need another set after that, well, we'll just cross that bridge when we get there?

I think I need to sleep on it.

If it's not one thing, it's another

So now Andy has an ear infection. He woke up in the night Tuesday to complain that his teeth hurt. Then in the morning, he said his ear hurt. It's hard to tell if he's telling the truth or what so we sent him to school after giving him a little Tylenol, which is either necessary or just medicinal for the brain. I didn't get a call in the morning, but I went ahead and made a visit at the pediatrician's (my BFF) just in case. Sure enough, around nap time when things got quiet, they called to say he was complaining of an ear ache. I took him to the doctor's where it was revealed that he was indeed just getting an ear infection and had a sore throat. He's now on Omnicef with a good prognosis for catching the infection early. The good part is this is only his second infection since he got tubes a year ago. That's much better than all the infections he had the year before.

Do you know what's great about all this? He said his ear hurt, I listened and now he's getting treated. How novel a concept to have a kid actually tell me something was wrong and me be able to fix it. This sure beats him being cranky and me trying to figure out if he was just being a jerk or really had something wrong.

Bjorn is out of town until Saturday. He's just in Baltimore, only an hour away, and I am really contemplating going up there tomorrow night and coming back Saturday in time for gymnastics. What's holding me back is we are *just* now settling back into a sleep routine after being away so I'm hesitant to mess with what's not broken. Plus, it's not like Bjorn will be able to play with us when we're there. It's going to have to be a game-time decision.

Oy, part 3

So guess who was up last night throwing up? That would be Andy! Poor guy. He came to my bed about 11, which is weird, but there are lots of weird things going on this week. He snuggled for a minute, then coughed, cried and when I turned on the light, I saw that he'd thrown up. In my bed. Turns out he'd also thrown up in his bed earlier. He did that for about half an hour while we changed the sheets and then woke up about 3:45 and 8:30 for repeat performances. Bjorn was quite the champ taking care of him and everything. Meg, believe it or not, had a pretty good night starting about 10:30 and woke up looking more like herself. Go figure.

I called Meg's babysitter to see if she could go over there today to give me a break to deal with Andy. She agreed so at least I had a chance to catch up on rest, laundry and e-mail for a bit. Dang, it's been a long couple of weeks! I hope all these bugs stay with 2008.

Oh, and to update on Meg. We spent two hours at the doctor's office yesterday. The first hour was waiting (groan) and the second they ran a bunch of tests. She has a double ear infection so the Omnicef wasn't doing its job so now she's on another antibiotic and a prescription antihistamine that will help dry her out and help her sleep. The doctor said I might go ahead and make the ENT appointment just to get a referral. She said Meg is younger than she normally likes to refer and hasn't exhausted everything else yet, BUT with Andy's family history, we're likely headed there anyway so why not go ahead and make that an option. The surgery makes me nervous, mostly the anesthesia, but the thought of preventing all this recent discomfort makes it all worth it.

Oy

So we returned and we were all excited to relax and sleep in our own beds...only for little miss Margaret to be up all Friday night, coughing so hard she would throw up. Poor chicken only slept about two hours at a time. Unfortunately, she only wanted me so Bjorn couldn't even really help. She and I were both exhausted and cranky come Saturday morning.

A trip to the pediatrician in the morning, along with most of the rest of Northern Virginia, diagnosed an ear infection so now she's on 3 ml of Omnicef twice a day as well as 3 ml of Motrin and Tylenol for the pain and 1 1/2 ml of Benadryl on occasion to help with the drainage. The humidifier is cranked at full blast and, thank heavens, she had decent nights Saturday and Sunday nights. I did even promise her a pony if she slept through the night Saturday I was so cranky and exhausted. She made it so now I suppose I need to look into ponies.

So far, the antibiotics seem to be working on her ears, but I have a feeling ear tubes are in our future. Fortunately, we've done it once so the whole process is not as scary.

Two steps forward, one step back

First, the good news. Andy is all better. His mouth was sore through Saturday so he stopped talking on purpose. I was surprised to realize just how much he talks when he wasn't doing it anymore. It was nice while it lasted. He didn't really want to eat much so we got him into yogurt "smoothies" which are yogurt milked with milk, stirred and then poured into a sippy cup with a straw. It's now Tuesday and he's gone through probably 10 things yogurts. He thinks it's like a milkshake with the bonus that it's easy to make and good for him.

Now the bad news. Meg is sick. I know, you all knew that was coming. She started off with a little cough yesterday and woke up this morning with a little fever, runny nose and glassy eyes. I called the doctor's office to ask if they were worried about strep. They said most likely not, but it wasn't unheard of so bring her in just in case. Good news is it's not strep. Bad news is it's an ear infection. She's now on antibiotics (Omnicef) for 10 days to clear that up. Poor baby.

With this being her second ear infection in two months during the SUMMER, I'm a little worried that we may be headed for ear tubes this fall/winter. Dr. Staats said not to worry about that just yet as it could be just a string of bad luck, but with Andy's history of recurrent ear infections it may be in our future. Good thing we've been through it once so I'm not as freaked out as I was, but I'd still like to avoid it if we can. Sigh.

And now for your moment of Zen, that's me trying to ride Andy's bike.

Feeling rotten

My mother said to me once, "A mother is only as happy as her least happy child." That seems so depressing, but at the same time, it's so totally true.

Baby Meg has had a miserable cold and cough all week and it's really killing me. I know, I know, I'm not the one hacking so much it makes me throw up my dinner, but it's been really hard for me to watch and not be able to do anything. I practically begged the pediatrician's office for something to give her, a cough suppressant, coedine, meth, whatever, and they finally relented to let me give her a little Benadryl to help her sleep. Fingers crossed, she does seem to be improving.

I've been giving her watered down formula, basically two scoops per six ounces of water instead of three, because the doctor thought it might have a better chance of staying down. That combined with her antibiotics, Vicks Vaporub all over her body, a soothing vapo bath and a humidifier with vapo steam crap in it + time = baby who seems to seems to finally be feeling a little better. She's also a little lighter. I guess the hacking cough diet is working for her.

P.S. On a totally unrelated note, when did the mohawk turn into the new mullet/rat tail for kids? I was at McDonald's last week where Andy proudly redeemed his free ice cream for doing his reading at the library and was stunned to see at least four mohawks. Classy.

The one with all the vomit

It has been a vomitous weekend. Meg has a cold, which is no big deal except it makes her cough. And some of her coughs are so strong they not only bring up the phlegm from her throat, but her dinner as well. It only took about six wardrobe changes for me to figure out not to let her spend much time on her back and to scale back her feedings somewhat until she recovers. I know, I really am one smart cookie.

I took her to the doctor Friday morning when she'd thrown up twice in about 12 hours. The diagnosis was as I expected, a cold with mucus in her throat with instructions to water down her feedings and keep her propped up. She seemed much better and in better spirits Friday and had a pretty good night, but when she threw up again on Saturday morning (right before a playdate, natch), we went back to the doctor's. And in between 10:30 a.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday, she'd developed an ear infection. Remarkable. So we're on Omnicef with is to knock out the ear infection, but is making her tummy even more of a mess. She's been so sad that she spent the whole weekend practically in my arms. In some ways it was nice because I rarely get to hold a sleeping baby anymore and she clearly only wanted me, but I am sure tired. I'd also really like to do something else, like shower.

Today is day two of the antibiotics and I also invested in a vaporizer (my sister's idea) so hopefully between the two, she can get some rest and really kick this sucker. I think we're all ready to be on the other side of this.

Andy, meanwhile, developed diarrhea. This is only notable because it's the first time he's had that ailment since he's been potty trained. It certainly presents some logistical challenges that we haven't had before.

You know, just when I think we clear one disgusting hurdle like getting rid of diapers, motherhood throws a new challenge at me.

The cool and not so cool

We got the word at the pediatrician's office today - Andy's long-running ear infection is refusing to clear up after three rounds of antibiotics. Based on his ears' performance refusing to clear up last spring when colds were less common and now that we're going into cold and flu season, she says it's time to get the surgery to put in ear tubes. Everyone I've talked to whose child has them raves that it has made all the difference in both their kids' temperament improving because their ears don't hurt and then the kids avoiding being sick going forward, but it's still something I was hoping to avoid. Rats.

I called the surgeon and we're booked for December 10. It sounds like a quick procedure. They said he's put under a general anesthetic delivered through a mask. Then we leave the room and about 10 minutes later, we're brought back into the recovery room where he wakes up minutes later. Our pediatrician said some kids are able to take a nap and go to daycare in the afternoon, but I don't think we'll test that. Now I've got to figure out some of the follow up stuff, like do I have to plug his ears for bath time and swimming? He refuses to put his head under water in the bath or pool at the moment (as you can see, he prefers "cooking" instead), but I imagine that won't last forever.

Meanwhile, my earlier post on men refusing to give up a seat to a pregnant lady at the OB's office got me a shout out over on DC Blogs. I feel so famous. Thanks to Chris for telling me about it.

Antibiotics here we come

It's official - the never-ending ear infection is back. We went to the doctor's today who confirmed that he still has an ear infection and that's probably building up infection in his sinuses, causing the eye goop. Way better than pink eye, but it does mean we're back on this treadmill again. When asked about tubes, she said that the infection may be starting in the nose and sinuses, but it can't drain through the ears properly which is why he's still sick. The plan is to try another round of antibiotics (this time amoxicillan/Augmentin) and see if we can't clear it up without surgery. But she did say that this kind of perpetual infection this early in the cold and flu season doesn't look good. Sigh. One more thing to worry about between now and the end of January.

The only good news is that apparently his ears are so red, she said they most certainly hurt. And that's good because it means my kid is not the demon he has been portraying lately, he's just uncomfortable and I can help alleviate that.

Meanwhile, check the porn shot I posted. He really wanted to wear his boots the other day as I had him undressed for his bath. He looked so funny clomping around that I took a couple of pictures. I found I actually had to delete one that showed his boy parts because it just looked so, so wrong somehow -- naked except for yellow rain boots and posing. So I made him put Jeff on his lap to at least cover the money shot. I still think this will be properly humiliating when he gets older. I see rehearsal dinner slide show written all over this one.

Happy Halloween

I rushed home from Los Angeles to celebrate Halloween to find that Andy's sinus infection (or goopy eye, running nose and cough) appear to be back, putting him somewhat in a cranky mood. We didn't tour the neighborhood, but Bjorn was able to get him into his costume and the boys sat on the porch and handed out candy. I already had a follow-up doctor's appointment scheduled for the afternoon so we'll just go to that to have his symptoms looked at again. Of course, I'm already worried that this means we'll be going through another series of ear infections that will ultimately lead to getting tubes in his ears. I know, I know, there is nothing wrong with tubes, it's just if we can avoid a surgery - however minor - I'd prefer to do that.

Infection: 39, Maternal Instinct: 2

Once again, my maternal instincts have been trumped by the all-knowing infection family. Turns out Andy didn't just have a cold, he has a massive sinus infection complete with two ear infections. Although he first showed signs on Wednesday, the only thing particularly notable about this cold was the fact that his eyes seemed, for lack of a better word, goopy. At first they were really watery, but that turned into eyes full of "sleep," in fact, so full that we had to put warm compresses on his eyes to get the goop to soften and come off.

I have been so totally swamped with work (which will end, more of less in two weeks, thankfully) that I couldn't get him to the doctor yesterday. In fact, I kept looking at him, gauging his demeanor and figuring it was just a cold. By last night though, I finally got a chance to Google "mucus and eyes and cold" only to find about four dozen entries on pink eye, which apparently can be caused by a cold or other infection. "Great. Just friggin great," I told myself. "Now not only is he sick, but he's got something super contagious. Is my eye itching?" It would be just my luck with this pregnancy to end up with the stomach flu, strep throat AND pink eye.

Bjorn took him to the doctor's this morning. Apparently they have sick only walk-in hours from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturdays. The diagnosis was a sinus infection with a double ear infection with the possibility of conjunctivitis (she wasn't going to do a culture because apparently the treatment for both the sinus infection and the conjunctivitis is antibiotics). So he's now on Supramax to the tune of $50 for a 10 day supply (damn my new Aetna insurance bites if antibiotics cost that much). The doctor expected that by the third dose, he would be much, much better although we have to come back in two weeks to get the ears looked at again. I just hope this doesn't turn into another string of ear infections that we just can't cure like last spring.

All clear

After waiting several months, we finally got in to see the pediatric otolaryngologist today. Dr. McBride was very nice and had a nice clean operation with good toys in the waiting room. Sadly, no toys in the exam room (note to self - always take a toy into the exam room). The good news is he looked in both ears and they are finally free of any fluid. So for the first time in months, he's finally got the all clear. Huge relief! We talked about tubes and such. He said that a child who has recurrent ear infections will likely get them again, but him finally being clear is a good sign. We're scheduled to go back in October in the beginning of flu and cold season to see how he's doing. I also got all the surgical paperwork together so should in September he start getting bad infections again, we could just call and schedule the surgery rather than starting the wait all over again. I'm not sure we'll do it, but it's good to know.

After the exam, we went back to talk to the audiologist to check on his hearing. Unfortunately, it was about noon and therefore lunch and nearing on nap time so he was tired and overstimulated and not in the mood for her silly hearing games. So we left with an incomplete result, but from what she could tell he could hear fine (whether he wants to hear is something else). I'm relieved the appointment went so well.

Funny though, he was quizzing us on why it took so long to come see him since Andy's last ear infection was back in April (that we knew of). I said it was easier to get an audience with the Pope than to get in to see him and he apologized and blushed a little. Turns out most doctors have no idea what their front office staff is doing and saying unless a patient tells them.

My sister is still visiting and we've been having fun when we haven't been working. She leaves tomorrow. Boo. It's been nice having a roommate who also likes random sports like cycling and bad television. Once I get more time, I'll post more photos of Emma and Mary's visit. My mother is complaining she doesn't like the ones posted (too bad, I actually think the one of Mary is fun).

Health restored, crankiness intact

Good news - Andy seems to have mostly recovered from the stomach bug that was keeping him down Sunday and Monday. Bjorn and I also are recovering so that's good.

The bad news is that he was so hyper last night now that he's finally better is that he refused to go to bed until after midnight and then woke up a few times in the night. He had to be woken up this morning and was super-tired at drop-off, despite his glee at finally seeing his friends again. He took a good nap at school, but was so overtired from his day he was uber-cranky all the way home and during dinner. Naturally, I put him to bed early.

The other good news is that when we went to the doctor for his stomach on Monday, I found that one of his two ear infections has cleared up. The right ear is finally good, but the left ear still has fluid. In Dallas, I saw my pediatrician, Dr. Pharo, who is now 82, in good health and has really seen everything. We wanted to talk to him about his opinions of ear tubes and just double-check what we were hearing at home. He recommended we keep the appointment with the ENT for July. It seems Andy is hearing fine so that's not a worry. What's the concern is that if the fluid stays in the ear, it could end up being a bigger problem as he gets older meaning a more serious surgery if we can't get the infection cleared up.

The other interesting thing was he told us never to put him to bed with a bottle or having a ceiling fan on his room (he also said to shoot all smokers in the house, which fortunately isn't a problem). I admitted that until recently we'd been giving him a bottle of water in bed. He said that he'd seen kids come in with milk behind their ear drums because of the way the fluid passes from their mouths when lying down. I'm now hopeful that the combination of summer weather and no bottle of water in bed will help dry him out. Fingers crossed!