The Ongoing Ear-y Misadventures

Happy New Yaer! Wow, my apologies for not posting in a terribly long time (especially in the blogosphere!). We've been busy at our house. Most of what's going on is what the subject of this blog is about. Ears. My poor son, Tyler, has had nothing but trouble with his for the last 4 months of his life and we've crossed over from understanding and consoling to downright anger and "get something done now" type of feelings. It started with an ear infection, which of course we didn't know about until it was bad. Ear infections in babies have a way of being stealthy until they're pretty full blown. I'd say this first one was when he was about 3-4 months old. We went to the doctor, got the medicine, healed it up, all was well. Then they started happening frequently, as in one would come up a week after the antibiotic course from the last one. So, we continued to see the doctor (about every 2 weeks) and kept getting antibiotics. I know I speak for a lot of parents when I say that all you want when they feel that way is to make them better. The poor guy tosses his head around and wakes anywhere from 5 to 15 times a night because of it. So after several months of this, we are referred to an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist (ENT). We have our appointment with her and she suggests saline rinses to his sinuses and Prevacid to stop any reflux (also known as spitting up) that we can.

While I appreciate that she didn't rush right into surgery, I have to admit I was a little disappointed that she didn't go ahead and suggest tubes for his ears. We were just wanting SOME sort of relief. She said she thought the spit-up was splashing and sitting in his ears causing the constant infections. Try it for six weeks and come back (January 20th). Oh, ok. Would you like to come home and deal with this with me for 6 weeks, because I'm pretty sure you have NO idea!

Well, here we were 2 weeks before Christmas and he gets ANOTHER one. This time, his ear drum bursts. To say I am mad is a vast understatement. I get that she can't predict that, but now I'm ready to talk tubes. I hold myself together for the pediatrician who more than senses my frustration. She gives him more antibiotics and puts him on a semi-permanent preventative dose. She says "that should be enough evidence (for tubes)." Okay, that'll do for now, but I am NOT waiting until the 20th. Luckily, we got rescheduled for this Friday, January 6th. In the meantime, my poor little kid is still tossing his head around on occassion but is generally the happiest baby you could ever know. He's been quite the trooper. But I'll tell you one thing, I will not be discussing anything other than tubes this Friday. As far as I'm concerned, the ear-y misadventures must stop.