An 11

Well, here's what the doctor said. If you don't know what I'm talking about just read my last post to see what was going on.

The visit started out like always: the doctor commenting on how happy Adelaide was. Then he asked what was up. I recapped the horrible night we had but said other than that she'd just been snotty. He proceeded to check her ears.

As he was checking them, he told me that at Adelaide's age the first things he considers when there's major crying and no sleeping are ears and throat. Leaving me in suspense I asked, "so what are you saying? What's the verdict?" He said on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst possible ear infection, one ear is an 11 and the other is a 9. An 11! He said her eardrum has a chance of rupturing. He said if it does, it will relieve the pressure but puss and blood will come out.

About this time I'm freaking out. I think he's starting to realize it too. I'm picturing permanent hearing loss here along with general freakiness. He goes on to assure me that there won't be any long term effects though, that the eardrum would mend itself in a day or so. Wow, her ears had gotten that bad. It was taken a while for me to real believe what I was hearing. My little girl that was laughing in her carseat on the ride over?

Everything else was OK but I felt like a horrible parent for not recognizing this sooner. The doctor asked me I don't know how many times if she'd been pulling on her ears or fussy prior to last night and my honest answer was no. He was amazed. He said it freaks him out that she didn't complain prior to that because it's so bad. Freaks me out too. It freaks me out even more that I almost canceled my appointment because she'd been so happy all day. The kid is crazy; she could fool anyone.

So she'd got to be seriously doped up now-- strong high dollar antibiotics to fight the infection, twice the normal dosage of Motrin for the pain (which totally freaks me out), and nasal spray to fight the continual drainage since the decongestants hadn't been working. He basically contributed the prolonged snottiness to allergies since we hadn't seen any relief with any cold medicines. That's totally a bummer. Now we've got to figure out if it's a food allergy or environmental.

We'll have to go back in 10 days to recheck her; he said he normally wouldn't recheck on those antibiotics but since Adelaide obviously has the highest pain tolerance in the world and won't complain until her eardrum is about to rupture, he wants to see her.

I've always seen Adelaide's happy demeanor as a huge strong point and never really thought it could also be a downfall until today. As I type this she is finally sleeping in her swing in our room. It's so nice to know she's comfortable for now.