The NeverEnding Ear Infection

So I thought I would take a few mins of my lunch break to make a post:) The test is this Saturday, so I promise to be better about posting after that! ****Warning**** Long Post:)

Going way back to the end of March and my Spring Break, Owen came down with his first ever ear infection. It was Wednesday morning and we had done a little vacuuming in the morning. When I went to change his diaper I thought he felt warm so I took his temp. We use an ear thermometer and when I went to put it in, he really flinched on his right side. I used the left ear and got a temp of 101. So I called the Dr and we got in to see the nurse practitioner later that morning. It was little bit of a bummer because I was looking forward to taking him to swim lessons later that morning. The nurse practitioner confirmed he was definitely getting an ear infection but that I had caught it early and it was only in 1 ear. So off we headed with a prescription. Well, Wednesday and Thursday night he woke up with really high fevers 103 and 104, which lead to calling the exchange each night. We were reassured that it was ok and to strip him down to a diaper each night and give some motrin. I called the office on Friday and they said it can sometimes take 3 days for the antibiotic to work on ear infections, but if he still ran a high fever that night then I was to go and get a new prescription on Saturday they were going ahead and calling in for me on Friday. Luckily Friday his fever appeared to break so we thought we were in the clear.......

He still wasn't the happiest of campers on Friday and Saturday, but was definitely better than he had been. On Sunday morning he woke up and wouldn't stand up when Tony went in to get him. He thought it was odd, but just picked him up and started the day. As the morning wore on it was very apparent that his equilibrium was way off. He couldn't hardly stand up straight, let alone walk! So another call to the exchange sent us into the ER. The doctor there checked his ears and said the right side looked nasty and the left one was getting red....so apparently the last antibiotic wasn't working! We left with a new prescription and orders to follow-up with our pediatrician on Tuesday. After consulting with the pharmacist, I went ahead and picked up the antibiotic that the pediatrician had called in previously that I didn't pick up because the fever broke.....On Tuesday the follow-up with the doctor revealed that the left ear was better but the right was still bad so continue with the current med because it seemed to be working. He had another appointment a week later that had already been scheduled for an immunization so we knew he would be checked out again soon. Well a week later he still had a bit of an infection in the left ear, so we skipped the shot to continue with the last day or 2 of meds and scheduled another appt two weeks later.

So, 2 weeks later was last Monday. As the nurse did the tympanogram (the little test to see if the ear drum could vibrate) she said it wasn't looking good because they were both flat....meaning fluid in the ears. The doctor came in to check him then and said he had a double ear infection! So the solution since 2 different oral antibiotics didn't work....a shot! Even worse is that it was a shot he had to get 3 consecutive days and they split the dost in 1/2 so he got one in each leg! By the 2nd day his legs were really sore and he didn't want to stand.....we switched from Tylenol to Motrin and it did wonders for him. We could tell a difference in his speech within a few days. It seemed he was repeating a TON more than before. Then he wakes up Friday covered in hives and had them all weekend......so he was allergic to the shot! We were able to control it with Benadryl....but seriously can we just move forward from this stupid thing! He goes back next week for another tympanogram and hopefully to get his immunization that has been put off for months now:) We're praying for good results!