Monday, March 9, 2009

Ear Problems

What a weekend. Friday night at dinner Allie's ears started hurting so bad she was in tears. She and I left our dinners on the table and left for Urgent Care right then and there. She's now on an antibiotic for a double ear infection and possible strep throat. I say 'possible' because since Isaac had it a few weeks ago, they wanted to treat her just to be safe. Urgent Care was super busy and we didn't get out of there until 2 hours later. Thankfully, the ibuprofen I gave her had taken her pain away while we were waiting or else it would've been really horrible to have a crying, whining child in the waiting room and not be able to do much about it.

Saturday was fun. It rained all day and so we played boardgames, Uno, and games on the Wii.

Sunday morning we went to church at 10:45 am instead of the usual 4:30pm time. I woke up so tired that morning and I could hardly wake up even though it was 9am. We were planning to have some friends over for dinner, but unfortunately, it started sleeting and the roads were getting bad so they cancelled. It's just as well, since I developed an earache in the afternoon and had to go to Urgent Care. The physician's assistant said my eardrum looked white instead of red. I said, it really does hurt! So he prescribed an antibiotic for me anyway. After I got back from the doctor and the pharmacy, I blew my nose and the pain in my ear went through the roof. (I didn't know until afterwards that you're not supposed to blow your nose when you have an earache.) Shane had a hot water bottle ready for me and I sat down with it and tried to relax. A few minutes later, my eardrum burst. Wow, did that ever hurt. It brought tears to my eyes. My ear bled for about two hours and continued to drain fluid. I called Urgent Care and talked to the physician's assistant who saw me and I happened to mention that I have scar tissue on that eardrum. He said, "Oh, no wonder it was white! I couldn't see the infection because of the scar tissue. You should see your ENT." So, now I have an appointment with my ENT for Thursday afternoon. I want to make sure my eardrum heals properly, especially since there's so much scar tissue on it already. The ENT's nurse said my eardrums burst because of a sinus infection. I thought that was interesting. She seemed more concerned about my sinuses than my ears. I don't think anything can be done about my sinuses, however, because my CAT scan results were normal. If you ask me, something's not right with my eustacian tubes. They never drain the way they're supposed to. I hope Thursday's appointment goes well and that the ENT and I can communicate clearly so we can understand what's going on and how to treat it. I wonder if there's a way to get rid of the scar tissue. I can hardly wait for Thursday!

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