Sozlet stories

I'm glad you've got some response - I was going to suggest a letter - not hostile but expressing concerns over communication and requesting more info - which you've done and it sounds as though the response will be positive. Good.

I don't think the Sozlet will be mortified! her friends won't know about the thread (and they are the ones who might tease when she's a little older) and when she's adult it will be a wonderful thing to look back on. I hope you have printouts.

When my eldest daughter was a baby my parents lived some distance away and I used to write updating them in much the way you do here and I'd include little cartoons of whatever she was up to - like the time when she was about 5-6 months old and had crawled under the coffee table (against the wall) and was stuck scrabbling about and muttering to herself as at first she couldn't work out how to come out again My mum treasures these and daughter loved seeing them.

about the chocolate and her painting!

On a tangent, I'd like to make two suggestions to help solve your image-resizing problems: I am using Image Magick myself, an Open Source command line tool that also lets you convert file formats and do some other things Photoshop does. There is also a version with a Web interface, where you can try out its various features. (You may have to use the 'filename' text field and work from files on your hard disk. For some reason the URL option is unreliable.)

Alternatively, if your internet connection can handle a 120-155 MB download, I recommend Open Office. It's a near-complete substitue for MS Office, comes with a choice of two Mac Versions, and provides an application called Draw. Draw handles the most common PhotoShop tasks, including resizing and format conversion.

Good luck resizing those images, and best wishes for a quick recovery of Pinky's stomach! (Not to mention Sozlet's ears.)

Thanks, Thomas! That looks really useful.

Sozlet's ears are actually doing pretty well, knock on wood. And the snot is easing up, too.

Eva, heh!!

After not getting anything yesterday (and not being happy about it), the ENT person wrote back this morning saying she was waiting to hear from the doctor, and then wrote again recently saying the doctor had left without getting back to her, but here was her take, from looking at the chart. (Not liking that doctor much.)

Her (the ENT person who is presumably some sort of doctor but not the doctor we saw) take was actually quite useful. She said that the fluid is likely just because of a cold, and the antibiotic recommendation is because it's a prime condition for infections, basically, since the fluid is there. That makes a little more sense, but I don't like the idea of giving her antibiotic as a preventive, especially since she got through the last two colds fine -- no ear infections -- and since she is getting steadily better now.

However, the ENT person said that the return visit is indeed about tubes -- if there is fluid then, they'd recommend tubes. :-? So the bar has been raised from ear infections to just the presence of fluid. I'm not happy about that, either.

I can always just refuse/ second opinion/ etc., but I much prefer a scenario in which they say "everything's fine, no need for tubes." If we get that in a month, great. If not, I'll go the refuse/ second opinion/ etc., route -- I think in this case they're over-eager to apply Medical Techniques To Eradicate The Problem. (This is the third time running when antibiotics have been recommended/ prescribed and sozlet's gotten better without.)

Vivien, I bet those notes are prized! With the cartoons, too -- very cool. In addition to all of the stuff I write here, I wrote "Updates" to all the grandparents from birth (actually from late pregnancy) through her first year or so. From my perspective now, she didn't DO a whole lot her first year, but the updates are full of her attempts to roll over, her attempts to walk, etc., etc.

Miss Sozobe - what kind of a gap has there been between the colds?




<wondering if there's a low-grade infection that's never been completely whacked out - happened to hamburger once - took nearly 2 years for them to figure out why a problem kept recurring and recurring - sometimes antibiotics aren't the wrong answer (not that I generally think they're a good answer)>

It's been one-two month gaps. The single biggest factor here has been preschool, though. She's in a big class, lots of kids, lots of germs. When she's out of preschool, she's well. When she's in preschool, and there's a sick kid, she gets sick about half the time. There has been a clear-cut sick kid at school and two-three days later sick sozlet correllation for every illness she's had. Her teacher has been teaching for about 20 years and says this has been one of the worst years she's seen -- she herself has been out sick a fair amount. Then there's the whole aspect of new city germs in addition to preschool germs.

I'm not ruling anything out, but this whole thing makes too much sense as being preschool-related -- I want to rule THAT out before going the surgical route. If, for example, she's having ear infections into July, I'll look at it differently. (I made a log of her illnesses and when she does get sick it's usually September - March. She didn't get sick at all between April and September last year.)

In terms of antibiotics, I gave her antibiotics after the first ear infection, in one ear -- at the end of that run she had an infection in both ears. Then she had another run. I forget how many runs and how many infections, but it kept escalating -- amoxicillin, augmentin, and then a shot -- and things just kept getting worse in that stretch. Since I called a halt to the antibiotics, things have been getting better.

That sounds like plenty of antibiotics for sure.


Are lots of other kids also getting sick after the first sick kid? Is sozlet more/less/similarly susceptible to whatever's going around?


<mulls a bit more>

Doesn't everyone in the northern hemisphere get sick pretty much to that schedule (healthy April - September), whether or not they're at school or at work?

Her best friend has been pretty much continuously sick since September, but best friend gets sick like sozlet got sick this last time -- lots of snot, that's about it. So the mom isn't really concerned.

In fact, that could be a sign that some immunities are kicking in, this cold was all about the snot, nary a fever or barf attack to be found. (Usually she starts barfing at the drop of a hat, and that causes its own problems...)

Oh I wrote that before I saw your latest post, so while it kind of answers it anyway, the rest of the answer is yes, when sozlet gets sick there are usually 4-6 kids who are also felled at the same time. Whether their parents then keep them HOME is another story...

I know I sound like a broken record, but decongestants worked wonders with my little guy when he had recurring ear infections. Keeping the fluid out of the ear makes more sense to me that prophylactic antibiotics.

Exactly, Swimp. That's what we've been doing since January. She's still had these colds, but they haven't turned into ear infections, and I don't care about garden-variety colds in the least. Kids get 'em.

How long did he have recurrent ear infections? When did they start + when did they end? (Sorry if you've told me this and I forgot...)

That's OK. I don't think I talked about it here before. He was under two when he would get them. I can't remember how frequent they were but they scared us to death. He'd be fussy and just a bear until sudenly his temp would spike to 104 and we'd rush him to the ER. We had him on decongestants for quite a while until thay weren't doing the job anymore. He finally got tubes.

Oh! What was your experience with the tubes?

I'm really not completely against them, if we gotta we gotta, but I'm not at all convinced they're necessary yet.

I have to admit they worked. He didn't have any more ear infections after they were put in. It was not a big deal opeartion either. He was up running throught the halls of the hospital a couple of hours after waking up. That said, I think surgery should always be a last resort. It was in our case. He had started getting ear infections before the age of one. We tried all kinds of medications that would work for a while and then stop working.

The thing about ear canals (eustachian tubes) is that they are relatively flat in young children. They will become more sloped and drain better with age. I think the fact that Sozlet is already 4 is a good sign that she can outgrow this condition without surgery. But then, I'm not a doctor.

That's useful, thanks.

Yeah, I think the last resort part is the main thing going on with me, too. Now, especially, since we seem to have figured out a non-surgical way of dealing with it for the time being. Doesn't mean it won't become necessary at some point, but now?

Better now than when she is in school. What is recommended re timing and any undesirable complications with later?

<exhales>

So the follow-up follow-up appointment was today. I purposely maneuvered to get a different doc. MUCH better. He was there, listening to what I had to say, asking good questions. He was fascinated by my own story and laid on the cochlear implant stuff a little thick, but was respectful of my responses and his curiosity was itself endearing.

He was very good with sozlet, she had wax yet again and he was the best yet at getting it out without distressing her. Had her giggling.

She was completely healthy, thank goodness (horrible bad-timing cold last time), and he said her right ear is absolutely perfect, and her left ear has a little fluid but nothing too worrisome, and unsurprising given the bout of ear infections just a few months ago.

He does want to see her back in a couple of months to check on the fluid in the left ear. I asked, so if there is still fluid, or if she gets another ear infection in that interval... would that mean tubes? He shrugged, said it depends on the situation. If there's fluid and she's otherwise doing fine, whatever. If she has a couple more severe ear infections, maybe.

I like this guy!

So a big relief on several counts.

Thanks for listening and for your good wishes, everyone. Wanted to update y'all.

Certainly hope things continue to go well, but sense of urgency/crisis is much diminished. That is nice.

Good news!

Yay!