The Weekend

This past weekend was a busy one.  The NASCAR races were here, so that meant that Aaron was gone for the most part.  Saturday my parents came over to visit with the kids and normally that makes Alex one happy camper - only she really wasn't one.  She woke up pretty grumpy and stayed that way most of the morning and when she woke up from her nap she was still pretty grumpy - not like her.  She had been having a lot of drainage from her ear - but that has been going on for almost a year.  Her pediatrician checked her ears out about 6 months ago and said they looked great.  We have been chalking the drainage up to all of her drool possibly running into her ear when she is laying down.  Anyway - her throat looked red and she had some little red bumps on her chin so my mom and I decided to take her to KidMed just to have her checked out. This is my biggest frustration with Alex being non-verbal.  She can't tell me when something hurts - it's a forever guessing game.  Do I really need to take her somewhere and expose her to more germs if maybe she only has a head ache for heaven's sake, or is there something deeper going on that needs attention?  I hate having to be the one that has to decide that.  Alex's universal sign for something is bothering her is to bite herself.  She NEVER rubs or points or indicates what is wrong.  Could be a hang nail, could be a sore throat, could be a stomach ache - only she knows.  

Her strep test was negative but when they looked in her ear they said her ear canal was pretty backed up with wax and they couldn't even see the membranes in her ear.  There was a possibility that her ear drum could have burst, but they couldn't say for sure.  They couldn't get in her ear deep enough to remove the wax so they suggested we get some over the counter medicine called Debrox to soften up the wax, give her Motrin for the pain and schedule an appointment with an ENT because they weren't going to be able to do anything further.   

 

Monday we headed off to the ENT.  Her left ear, in his words, was "pristine", her right ear had "a wax issue" and while it was not a big deal at all, he was glad that we were "punted" to him instead of KidMed trying to remedy it on their own. 

 

 

He placed some peroxide in her ear and went to get his irrigation tools.  I think things must have felt or sounded funny to Alex with the peroxide bubbling up in her ear because she sat like this the whole time the doctor was out of the room.

 

 

When he and the nurse came back in they started to irrigate her ear and not to be gross, but what was coming out of her ear was pretty nasty.  I said I wanted to take a picture and after a minute or two the nurse dumped everything down the sink - and when I commented again that I had wanted to take a picture she looked at me and said "You were serious about that?!?"  I had to laugh.  The doctor laughed and pretty much said "whatever floats your boat"!  Sometimes my oh so not normal life seems so "normal" to me that I forget how we can come across to complete and total strangers!

 

After a few more syringes of warm water in her ear this came out.  Yes, this time I actually took a picture :)

 

 

That had to FEEL SO MUCH BETTER....but I guess maybe it hurt coming out because she screamed and cried.  I really wonder how having that stuck in her ear canal felt - were sounds muffled?  Is it like when you stick your finger in your ear and talk and everything sounds louder?  Once again, only she knows and I can only wonder.  The doctor said her ear canal was red and that it could have been from the irrigation, but since it was apparent she had been in pain before the 'extraction', he put her on an anti-biotic just in case it is an actual infection. 

 

On Sunday Zach started ice-hockey.

 

 

 

I have to say, I was really proud of him. All of the kids had taken this clinic already, and some of them multiple times, so they all knew how to skate really well and knew what to do.  The few times Zach's been ice skating he's been a 'wall hugger' so he was pretty intimidated watching the other kids get out on the ice and start practicing drills.  By the time he got on the ice the coach and I had a brief discussion about him maybe not continuing on for the rest of the scheduled clinics - but, he sucked it up, got on the ice and gave it all he had.  By the time the hour was over he was already skating better and asking when he was coming back - he loved every minute of it.

 

 

Alex thought he looked pretty funny in all of his get up and she laughed at him every time she looked at him :) She was pretty cold so entertaining her for the hour was a little challenging.

 

 

I don't think Alex is going to enjoy this experience as much as Zach will!