Thanks hbg!
Fruit juice has worked well for us in the past. Not all of them; grape and berry juices are much better than apple or citrus juices, for example.
She's up and looking perky -- I'm not taking her further than 5 minutes from the house today. (I saw the nausea arriving in the doctor's office but there was a lot of hurry up and wait "just one more thing" going on, for about 45 minutes after it started...)
Bad news is that there seems to be gunk in her left ear. Sigh. Dunno when it would've happened, doesn't seem new. Oh, and her hearing is definitely affected. She's been seeming fine, not requesting that the TV be turned up or anything and understanding us fine, but I just tested by asking her to repeat what a character was saying on TV. First she said, "I forget", then "It's too quiet." Turned it up.
I'm gonna have a hard time waiting until November 17th.
Dr. Weil recommends Cranial Osteopathy (see quote below)
http://www.drreiss.com/Osteopathy/DrWeil.htm
Since the problem is a physical one... small Eustachian tubes... maybe a physical treatment makes sense.
I am very sorry you're in such a predicament. It just sounds awful. Gentle hugs sent your way.
Quote:Ear infections
In young children middle-ear infections (otitis media) are so common as to be accepted as a normal part of growing up. They are also the bread and butter of allopathic pediatricians, who treat them with frequent courses of antibiotics and decongestants and sometimes with surgery. I have described the use of an osteopathic technique called craniosacral manipulation to end recurrent ear infections in children. I recommend this treatment highly. In addition I suggest eliminating all milk and milk products from the diet for at least three months to see if any benefits result. That means avoiding all dairy products as well as breads and other foods containing milk in any form. Soy, rice, and nut milks can be used. External ear infections (otitis externa) are more common in older persons. They are easily treated by putting garlic or garlic oil or mullein oil into the ear canal. Warm the oils slightly, put some into the affected ear with a medicine dropper, and plug loosely with cotton. Sometimes this treatment, combined with oral doses of echinacea, will also end a middle-ear infection, if you get on it at the very start. Children who are old enough to gargle should be encouraged to do so frequently when they first notice the pain of an ear infection. Warm saline solution works fine. It promotes healing by bringing more blood to the Eustachian tube, which connects the ear with the throat.
Thanks, Piffka. Part of what I really like about vacationing ENT (how dare he take a vacation!) is that he doesn't immediately go for the medical intervention and seems to be more holistic. I'll run this past him.
You left us with a bit of a cliffhanger, Soz -- any news on how her ears and her hearing have developed over the weekend?
Hi there,
Thanks for asking -- while the details are very useful for me later on when I'm reconstructing timelines and such, I get a little sheepish about conveying every little detail. It's certainly important/ interesting to me, but don't want to assume everyone's interest.
No new developments, though, anyway. She seems to be feeling fine -- no fever, no pain (eyerolling, impatient "no" if asked), no new gunk. Plenty of energy.
Her hearing is still not good, but seems to be slightly improved from yesterday. I'd guess ~30 db loss. She understands E.G. with hardly any problem, and understands the TV when it's up ~4 increments from usual. (Maybe 50 increments total?)
Still very congested, but seems to be getting a bit better every day.
Today I am going to try to contact the ENT guy, fervently hoping he's back from vacation.
The main story right now is that *I'm* sick (got much better after a respite yesterday, then with activity and talking backslid again) and she is totally bouncing off the walls with boredom and energy. This creates its own problems aside from sickness -- she's just plain being IRRITATING. (Just like an infant's cry is designed to be so unbearable that the parent will do what the infant needs, NOW, to make it stop, a bored sozlet is designed to be unbearable so that I'll pay attention to her and get her un-bored. Stumbling around, saying random things, pawing at me, fidgeting, doing destructive things (gee, what happens if I poke the glass of water a little closer to the edge of the table... a little closer...)
And RIGHT after I wrote that, which was made-up but indicative, she DID spill a bunch of water on the floor...
Usually in this mood I would take her to a playground or send her to preschool, but I want to talk to the ENT before I have her around other kids. She's still congested, if better than she'd been, and I'm concerned that she's a tinder box of potential ear infection just waiting for another spark of germs. Just want to get his say-so. My overriding goal is to make this whole winter as healthy as is reasonable. (I.e., I'm not going to worry if she gets a few colds, but she can't keep having these perforated eardrums.)
I do feel compelled to add, though, that I infinitely prefer Ms. Bored-but-healthy to Ms. Total Invalid. With the notable exception of the two burst eardrums and the Barf Attack, this whole thing has gone much better than usual. She's really only been ill or in pain for about 10 minutes on Monday night and Thursday afternoon->bedtime. The rest of the time she's been fine except for some combination of congestion and hearing loss.
The perforated eardrums and the hearing loss would have me very upset, Soz. I'm sorry you've been sick, too. (Life is heck.)
There
are parents who MIGHT resort to a dose of Benadryl purely for its beneficially calming side effects.
Ask Dr. Sears wrote:Another "off-label" use of Benadryl is sedation. Most parents (myself included) will admit to using it on occasion to help the kids fall asleep.
One thing about the hearing loss is that it's to be expected with the perforated eardrums, but likely won't last very long. Things should improve when the eardrums are fully healed (usually a couple of weeks), and if not, it's probably either about negative pressure (the eardrums are being sucked inwards and don't vibrate as they ought) or fluid that hasn't drained yet.
Hopefully, anyway.
Benadryl, heh! (Another karmic addition, she's been sleeping quite well which I am extremely grateful for and makes all the difference. And that's through me coughing like a... um... someone who coughs a lot for the last several nights.)
I plan to take care of a few more things I need to do, give her some lunch, and then go on some sort of outdoor adventure together. Another beautiful day -- something else to be grateful for.
soz : good to hear that things are looking up for the sozlet (mother will just have to grin and bear it).
re.perforated eardrum. mrs h got perfor ear-drums as a child and in her 40's it came back and caused a lot of discomfort - to say the least. the specialist prscribed VOSOL. for about a month i had to actually pack her inner ear with cotton soaked in vosol several times a day. the good thing is, that it actually helped to heal it. the doc told her to keep vosol handy and squirt some into her ears whenever there was the slightest discomfort. for many years ehbeth, mrs and i used it. can't get it in canada, so we are using burosol now. (vosol is still listed in the internet; don't know why it's discontinued in canada - not expensive enough ?).
well, as long as the sozlet is bugging you crazy, she must be feeling good ! aren't you happy about that ? GRRRR !? hbg
sozobe wrote: The main story right now is that *I'm* sick (got much better after a respite yesterday, then with activity and talking backslid again) and she is totally bouncing off the walls with boredom and energy. This creates its own problems aside from sickness -- she's just plain being IRRITATING.
The little one of my two sisters was like that when she was Sozlet's age. When I was sick and she'd be super-agile, I would have her play 'nurse' with me. This was absolutely foul play on my part because all I ever did was lay around on my bed and have her nurse me. (What do you want, that's what big brothers are for.) But my sister proved very helpful and surprisingly enthusiastic in playing 'nurse'; she definitely liked to be needed. Do you think something like this might work for Sozlet too?
I hope you'll get well soon.
<sting's voice> I love my... I love my... I love my ENT...
Just got an absolutely fantabulous email from him -- 7:30 at night and his first day back from vacation. Snippets:
Quote:I would probably hold off on the antibiotics since she seems to be
doing so well now. It looks like while we were all waiting, [sozlet]'s
body took care of herself.
---
Although it is not pleasant to look at, perforation is a
treatment for the acute infection - before antibiotics, we intentionally
created an opening in the ear so that the pus will drain out - with this
help, the body can fight off the infection on its own. I am not sure
that I would recommend that we let it perf each time but clearly, it
worked out okay.
He also said that since she's doing so well otherwise (energy, etc.) to go ahead and let her do normal stuff. Hello, preschool!
Mostly, I'm thrilled to have connected with him and have him be available from now on, especially via email, to deal with what comes up.
And doubly thrilled that the no-antibiotic decision seems to have worked out. I was worried about that one.
Whew!
Now to see what the future holds -- gonna continue to do all I can to keep her immune system strong, that's for sure.
Nothin', nothin', is so great as a good doc.
He is of course not perfect by definition, but I appreciate him from here.
Let me add that some docs also have a sense of relief (I gather from those I know) from talking with tuned in patients or parents of patients. It feeds their venture when much is onslaught.
soz : that's great news ! particularly not having to use antibio should be a great relief. i guess i've been on them once too often and have to pay the price when i do need them . i certainly try to stay from antibio now. of course i would take them if really needed to; it's just that they now cause all kinds of nasty side-effects.
off to pre-school she goes ! all the best. hbg
Thanks, hamburger! (I like your new sig line btw.)
And osso, I appreciate your appreciation... :-)
I'm feeling a little too "OK, done with that", have to remember that it is likely just the opening sally. Still, there were a number of encouraging elements.
Fingers crossed.
Hope she (and you) are better.
So how is everything going?
Gosh, things are wacky at A2K today! Hope it gets fixed soon. I saw Jes say she's told the developers.
Things are going pretty well, thanks for asking! Sozlet is still snotty, but it seems to be getting a bit better every day. Her energy level is very good. Didn't get enough sleep the last couple of nights, which worries me a bit -- not quite enough sleep Tuesday night (~10 hrs), which is OK, but then really not enough sleep last night (~8.5-9 hrs), when she should have gotten enough to make up for Tuesday. She said she had a bad dream that woke her up and she couldn't get back to sleep. I asked why Jones didn't take care of it, and she said he's visiting his cousin for three weeks. :-?
She went to preschool yesterday and that seemed to go OK.
I have a plain old pedestrian cold but am being a baby about it, especially the uncontrollable coughing at night that is making it impossible to fall asleep. Talked to pharmacist yesterday and got Dayquil/ Nyquil, it helped.
Oh and her hearing still isn't good. Not terrible, not good.
It sounds like things are clearing up nicely.
I'm sorry to hear that you're not feeling so good. Mr. B was sick all week last week and he was a total baby about it. Somehow Mo and I escaped whatever it was.
