Golden Pig Tales

We are on another level of antibiotics for Ezra’s ear. He woke up on Wednesday complaining about an owie in his ear, so I got him in to see the doctor. She decided to switch to a different type of antibiotic, because she said that it was either a new infection or the old one didn’t get knocked out by the dose we started two weeks ago…so, it’s now looking very likely that Ezra will get a recommendation for another set of tubes. Those poor ears! He takes his medicine like a trooper….even the additional “medicine” that we’re giving him to help his tummy get the good bacteria back - straight acidophilus bacteria that tastes like weirdly pungent blueberry yogurt. Hopefully he will keep up the good attitude and this ear infection will go away!

Doctor confirmed Ezra has another ear infection, so now Ezra is taking the Amoxicillin twice a day. I gave him his second dose to day. It was a different experience than it was even nine months ago, because now he has a better ability to refuse medication. Fortunately, when I gave him the meds he took it with a contorted face, but swallowed and waited for the next injection of Amoxicillin. Now, there will be nine more days of finding way to get him to take the medication.

About a year ago Ezra got ear tubes to help with ear infections. The tubes have helped for infections have been near none after he got ear tubes, but now due to an ear infection, agitation and time the ear tube has fallen out. We have the ear tube wrapped in tissue. There has been a slight fever, and there is a slight pain in the ear with no ear tube. Golden goop has oozed from ear. He has told us only one ear really hurts. Though his ear infection is causing him slight pain, he was in great spirts tonight was he and we played trucks and trains then sung the clean-up song and cleaned-up. His pediatrician will be seeing him tomorrow about the ear tube and ear infection.

Ezra went to the dentist today (I went along too). It’s been about 6 months since the infamous tooth avulsion incident. Ezra had to go to the dentist to make sure that his remaining teeth looked relatively normal. From my perspective (and probably Ezra’s) it was a bit of a waste of time, as the dentist we saw was about as engaging and informative as a lump of wet bread, and it was like pulling teeth to get him to talk to us. For a pediatric dentist, he did not have much of a way with kids.   I think the next time we need a dentist I will be looking elsewhere, as I don’t need to drive all the way out to Beaverton either!

Took Ezra to the doctor today for his 18 month check-up.  Didn’t have to get any shots, but there were still lots of tears shed. First it was because I tried to put him on the scale so they could weigh him. Then it was because I tried to get him to lay on his back on the bench so they could measure him. Then it was because we tried to wrap a tape-measure around his head to get his head size. The only results were tears and a bunch of numbers that were more like guesstimates than anything else. So Ezra maybe lost a pound, maybe grew an inch, and apparently his head shrunk. The only thing I think we know for sure is that he doesn’t have an ear infection and that he is not anemic. Yay for that! I thought maybe we could go do something fun after the doctor, but Ezra was so tired he fell asleep in the car about 3 blocks after the doctor and I had to wiggle him out of his car seat and take him upstairs for his nap all passed out asleep like a really heavy rag doll.  Speaking of which, I think I hear him making noise upstairs!

What we thought/hoped/wanted to be teething is instead a fucking ear infection. A fucking ear infection that kept Ezra, -v- and I awake nearly all night with cries that varied from neighborhood waking screams to small whimpers as he slept.

Now we are all tired. And another night is before us. He is sleeping now. He was a little less fussy. He was rubbing his ear and jaw like he was trying to polish it. The only thing he’s polishing it with is the snot that covers his face.

We were going to begin to limit his use of pacifiers this week, but with the ear infection and the pacifier’s soothing ability the pacifier is needed. He is on antibiotic, so hopefully with them and tubes the infection will be gone soon, and we can begin to wane Ezra from pacifiers.

I fucking hate ear infections. I wish it were teething then at least we would know there would be an end to the pain, cries and sleeplessness. And if it were teething then at least he would be getting teeth and not just a fucking ear infection.

Ezra went in for a follow-up doctor’s appointment for his ear tubes today. Despite -v- and I going to the wrong place in the hospital and showing up late, the visit was good. No infection, better hearing and a blue tube in each ear is a summery of the report. He has also been sleeping better at night. Yay! for ear tubes.

They gave him some liquid Valium to make him silly. A few minutes after he was looking around and rocking on back.  They took him away and gave him some gas to calm him further. Then they put the tubes in. The time span between him getting the Valium and him returning from the operating room was about forty minutes.

When he returned from surgery, he looked like I do after a night of drink too much whiskey. His face was puffy, and eyes were barely open and red. He was groggy and fussed a bit, but mostly he sat silent and still as he stared at the ground wanting to be held by -v-.

After the surgery, the doctor said that Ezra had a lot of fluid behind both ear drums and a slight inflammation, and that everything went smoothly during the operation.

Now we are home, and his mood is good. He has been smiling and eating. He did have some trouble walking at first, but now is walking with balance.

Now I only hope the tubes will help him hear and become less susceptible to getting those fucking ear infections.

Ear Infections fucking suck because they cause Ezra pain; because they wake Ezra often during the night; because they prevent Ezra from napping; because they create a Fussy Ezra; because they fear use to antibiotics; because they worry a parent about surgery on their child to ‘get tubes’; because they make a parent paranoid about their child’s health; because they create cries that no parent wants to hear; because they cause Ezra pain.

On Friday, Ezra received a clean bill of health for his ear infection! This was good news for sure.

Kalab went to Vegas on Friday, leaving Ezra and I to make plans of our own for the weekend. I decided that it would be fun to go to C-town to visit grammie and grampie T. Me and Ezra zoomed down after dropping off dad at the aiport. We arrived less than 2 hours later, and Ezra proceeded to run and explore - this was the first time he’s been to visit as a super mobile walker. He had lots of fun playing with bamboo in the backyard, trying to figure out how to wield an imaginary light saber/fishing pole/javelin. We had yummy food, including more fresh strawberries and blueberries.

Getting ready to leave on Sunday, Ezra seemed a little extra tired. He ended up sleeping the whole way home, and was then a little fussy. We had dinner back in P-town with DJ and G, and then I took DJ to the airport and swapped him for Kalab. Ezra put up with the dinner and the trip to the airport, but wasn’t his normal self, and he probably just wanted to be at home. He was happy to see dad though!

Sunday night Ezra developed a cough, which may or may not have been the cause of the vomiting at about midnight followed by a fever. It was either that or the 1/2 pint of strawberries Ezra ate on Sunday. Or maybe it’s just some mystery virus. Ezra seemed OK Monday morning, but then I got called to come get him from daycare at about noon because he had a fever and had puked again. So Ezra and I came home and got to hang out with dad for the next 36 hours. Ezra was generally OK, but dad and I went through our own little set of maladies, including, I think, a case of food poisoning! 

Wednesday morning came and Ezra awoke in pretty good spirits, and went off to daycare with a spring in his step with dad and I sort of shuffling and limping along after him…I’m hoping that our rollercoaster of health has just about reached the end of the line!

I guess that when I am with Ezra, and he drops his pacifier, my response is “uh oh!” and when he falls down, I say “uh oh!” and when he drops his crackers, I say “uh oh!”…and maybe I say it for other things too, but I just don’t realize it. But a little guy named Ezra sure does! The last couple of days, whenever Ezra drops his pacifier, he says “uh oh” and when he drops his sippy cup off the side of his high chair tray, he says “uh oh” and when he pulls a bunch of bags out of a drawer and leaves them scattered all over the kitchen, he says “uh oh uh uh oh uh oh” : )

Ezra is just about to wrap up his regiment of amoxicillin, and this ER doc only wrote the prescription for the EXACT amount Ezra should take for 10 days. Does he not know children are prone to at least once spitting out the medicine, prompting you to re-administer a half if not a full dose? Uh oh. I am picking up a whole new prescription for him tomorrow, just so he can take a day’s worth of the stuff. Some things are so unneccesarily complicated. I am going to try to take Ezra to the Dr. this week to just check and make sure that the ear infection has responded to the meds. Hopefully the Dr. response when she looks in Ezra’s ears will not be “Uh oh!”

Ezra had a follow-up doctor’s visit to check on the ear infection discovered on Monday. The follow-up visit was to determine if Ezra needed to get a prescription of White Strawberry Smooth Flavored Amoxicillin / Clavulanate Potassium to fight off the ear infection or if the ear infection was being fought off by Ezra’s immune system. I am happy to write that, according to his doctor, Ezra’s immune system is fighting off the ear infection, so there was no White Strawberry Smooth Flavored Amoxicillin / Clavulanate Potassium prescribed! WOO HOO!

-v- took Ezra into the doctor’s on Monday for his big boy 1 year checkup and his shots. BUT, to our surprise, he has an ear infection. An ear infection that was the reason we were tired last week. It is the reason why he will be going to the doctor’s office on Thursday for a follow up check to see if the ear infection is going way. If it is then there won’t be any White Strawberry Smooth Flavored Amoxicillin / Clavulanate Potassium. If the ear infection continues to grow then Ezra will be enjoying more White Strawberry Smooth Flavored Amoxicillin / Clavulanate Potassium which he hates.

This is weird because we took him to the doctor’s office a month ago because we believed he had an ear infection, but he was only getting his molars. And while he is still getting in his molars, we attributed his fussiness to the molars, but it was in fact an ear infection.

For the past week Ezra has pretty much slept through the night. For the past couple of days the issue has been getting him to sleep for his fussiness level near bed time has exceeded the bounds of my sonus tolerance of screaming. In fact, last night was the first night since he was born that I actually hoped Ezra would shut-up (in a moment of helplessness, confusion and pain deep in my ear). I was holding him and trying to calm him from his crazed state of screaming and flapping around and felt pain in my ear. It took a few minutes of walking around and talking calm and then strapping him into the Ergo-baby to walk around for many minutes to get him to calm then to sleep. Then his sleep was like the sleep of the past nights: through the night with an occasional cry or shout that would settle back to sleep.

This unto itself was not cause for alarm. We seen tooth number eight coming through and we attributed some of the fussiness to that at first, but the we seen him rubbing the side of his head against the ground and we seen him pulling at his hear. -v- and I seen this and assumed Ezra had yet another ear infection. So, -v- took Ezra to his doctor, and the doctor found no ear infection. Rather she found swollen gums around the molar area meaning molar teething is.

I am happy that he doesn’t have an ear infection, but I am hoping that the molars will push through the gums before ten days which is the time it takes for amoxicillin to take care of an ear infection. I am not getting my hopes up that the molars will be pushed through, and Ezra will be beyond the pain of the molar teething, because molars are big, but for the sake of Ezra and the pain of molars pushing through gums and for the sake of my hearing I hope the molars are set sooner rather than later.

-v- took him into the pediatrician today to confirm what we have suspected for the past couple of days. The suspicion began with the return of the boogers in Ezra’s eyes. Then Ezra began to rub his ears. Then began the fussiness without known cause. We found today that even after completing the last cycle of Amoxicillin, the bubble gum Amoxicillin, the ear infection has returned.

The doctor did warn us that Ezra’s first prescription may not take care of the infection because the infection could be too strong for just Amoxicillin, but she didn’t want to give him the super Amoxicillin because it kill lots of bacteria not just the bacteria causing the ear infection. That didn’t work. It helped, but the bubble gum flavored Amoxicillin didn’t kill the bacteria off, so now Ezra is on a ten day cycle of white strawberry smooth flavored Amoxicillin/Clavulanate Potassium.

Since yesterday, Ezra was beginning to show signs of some thing that appeared to be Conjunctivitis, also know as Pink Eye, also know as that thing that causes the eyes to create boogers on the eyelids and eyes. We thought maybe that his eyes were jealous of all the boogers the nose was creating and therefor wanted to create their own. We were hoping it wouldn’t be a simple case of bacterial Conjunctivitis that would clear up in a few days. So we called the pediatrician to get an appointment, so she could look at Ezra and prescribe whatever it is he would need to clear up the Conjunctivitis only to find out that he has a nasty ear infection.

The diagnosis of the ear infection does explain the fussiness during the past couple of days when laying Ezra down, but the diagnosis doesn’t take away pain he is obviously having right now. Baby Tylenol seems to help a bit, but getting him to lay down and sleep is difficult. Along with a cough and teething, the ear infection I think has pushed him over the limit. It has -v- and I realizing sleep is something to now daydream.

Thankfully, we have been giving him bubble gum flavored amoxicillin, but that will take a few days to help. For now, we will wait.