Earyngitis

Tova is a spunky fella. Impish at times. Today, Hope said she took off her shoes and then put them away in the correct spot on her shoe shelf. What a kid!

Tova's appointment with the specialist went well a couple of weeks ago. Dr P told us that Tova's hearing changes were probably not permanent, hopefully with cold and flu season abating she would be infection free and her ears could start to heal. Surgery was discussed briefly and hypothetically, but mostly we heard what we wanted about her hearing issues and left happy. Dr P made arrangements for Tova to be seen by him again in 5-weeks with the stipulation that if there were any changes in her health or our perception of her hearing that she was to be seen by him (and not our general pediatrician) ASAP. He gave us the number to contact him and then we said our good-byes.

Tova is a tricky kiddo. See? She can shovel sand with her eyes closed! On Sunday night she woke up after an hour of groaning and crying in her sleep. She began tossing around, staggered drunkenly to our bed tripping over herself multiple times. It was early, early morning and I was quite sleepy but I could tell that her equilibirium was off. I dragged her into our bed where she threw herself about like she couldn't tell up from down. She also started to act nauseous, spitting and swallowing hard like she was about to vomit. Hours went by like this, but clearly escalating discomfort. Then suddenly, she stopped crying and fell asleep, snoring away between the two of us.

Monday morning she was still fast asleep when I left for the barrio clinic, so I kissed her and left. Certainly she was feverish, but still sleeping comfortably. Lars called Dr P, our pediatric ENT guy, at the number he gave us. He called multiple times starting at 8 a.m. By noon, I had a text from Hope saying Tova wasn't herself and she was going to bring her to my work 45-minutes away because she was worried. Hope and Tovey arrived, burning up and red cheeked. Because midwives are nurse-practitioners trained in the full-range of family practice and not just OB/GYN I am fully qualified to assess an infants' health. My barrio clinic has excellent tools, so I gently arranged her head on Hope's shoulder while she slept and visualized her right ear (the problem ear). Big bulging and bright red tympanic membrane, turgid and fluid filled. Clearly problematic, clearly re-infected. Just as I turned her head to check the other side, Hope gasped because fluid was draining from her ear, some of it bloody. I looked in her ear and it looked a lot like the right except the membrane was ruptured and oozing. It certainly explained her previous night's symptoms. Poor little guy.

With Lars having difficulty contacting the right people, I placed a phone call to our pediatrician, explained the clinical data and got her an appointment. Lars drove home from the city, Hope drove home from the barrio and then Lars took Tovey to the regular pediatrician. She confirmed what I saw and then wrote another prescription for another round of antibiotics. As he was leaving, Lars got a phone call from Dr P's office. He needed to be downtown at the children's hospital clinic at 8:00 the next morning. This morning they drove downtown together, Hope took the big kids to school and I did my normal Annike drop-off and went to work. At the specialist, the exam confirmed what I determined (for free!), Tova got another prescription for antibiotics to use in addition to the Suprax and a surgery date for May 18, plenty of time for her to kick this infection. The hearing loss she's currently experiencing is TEMPORARY and should resolve with the surgery.

I don't get overwhelmed easily or often. As a working mother of four children -- who choose not to do their own laundry -- getting overwhelmed has no value. Today though, I'm feeling a bit edgy, cliffy even. My eldest, a competetive gymnast, is injured and is now on day 10 of pain and limping. My son has left his reading book at school 6-school days in a row. I'm having emotionally draining childcare issues. I've got a baby who can't hear a damn thing, has blood and crud draining from her ears and is on day 3 of a fever. My dog keeps wetting my bed because she's old and tired and old. There's a mouse in my house, it leaves little notes to me in the form of poo. My husband loves to talk about bad news. And, there's a volcano erupting in Iceland, grounding my flight plans to the Mediterranean where I was planning on going to escape it all. With the lottery winnings. The lottery I was supposed to buy a ticket for. Then win. I forgot to buy a ticket. The trip was theoretical. It's raining in Southern California today. I've run out of bleach spray and don't have time to disinfect anyway. Irk.