Ear Tubes, Breastfeeding & stuff

As I count down the days to Grant's ear tube placement....the reality slaps me around a bit. I mean...this kid was exclusively breastfed for 5 months and is STILL getting daily breastmilk. Sometimes I feel like my milk isn't good enough or something stupid...but of course the truth is that he would have just been sicker and had a harder time these past 19 months without mama milk. Its just hard to think about sending your child down the dark dank (ok I made that up)institutional hallway without his mama...to be sedated, poked and prodded.

They say the procedure is quick and relatively painless. He should be in and out within 15 minutes. She is going to suck all the fluid from his ears and send a sample to the lab. We will finally know what the hell has been growing in his ears. Is it bacteria or a virus or even fungus? I read that merely 30% of all ear infections in children are actually bacteria....even though almost every one (at least those that Drs are monitoring) is treated with antibiotics. Hmmmmm..and why again are we having super germs and a generation that antibiotics do not work on? Everybody say "over prescribing".

What irritates me to no end...is that I did not demand a culture months ago when his ear was draining like a river. Unfortunately I did not know to do so. Here is my advice to all parents....if your child is uncomfortable and has draining ears...go ahead and get it cultured. It is a painless, non invasive process. They just need to collect it and send it away. Wouldn't it be nice to know what you are dealing with? Why guess? Its as simple as that. When you know who/what you are at war with...you have more leverage. Take charge of your family's health care. Be the advocate. Do your own research (I know it is time consuming...but do what you can).

I have been warned that when the child is detoxing the sedative...they can scream and cry for up to an hour! This can be the worst part of the whole experience. I admit that worries me. Why do they scream? Does it hurt? Are they hallucinating? Are they afraid? What the F%#*K? Hopefully little Grant will just nurse and nurse and eventually be fully awake and be able to go home very quickly. That is my mantra.

Oh...and they tell you that the child is to have no food or drink after midnight. However, there is plenty of literature that states that breastmilk is ok 2 - 3 hours before anaesthesia. So I will be going against standard protocol and little Grant WILL have milk till 3:30AM (and clear fluids aka water till 4:30). Then however, I must restrict him. This will be the first time EVER in his life that he has been denied milk for a long period of time. Sure there are times when we are out in public that I say "NO not now". But even then if he would persist I would find a place and make sure he got what he needed. So in order to make this situation less stressful for both of us...I am planning on not being around. Ideally I sleep in a different bed after 3:30am...and then I stay in a different area at the surgery center (wont be easy) until he is in recovery (Dad and Nana will be with him in the waiting room). Sounds terrible..and even tricky...but I just think it will be easier on him if he doesn't feel denied. If they aren't around...he has nothing to be denied. Right? Ugh...this sucks.

I would love to hear your experiences with ear tubes. Anyone?

Road Trip on Heavy Drugs

Road trip time! I am at home packing and cleaning the house (and obviously sneeking a post in there somewhere). We are heading East..to the Missouri state capital (which is....you can do it). On the agenda: visiting family, eating lots of good food and bringing a load of storage stuff. See we are trying to move out there for various reasons (none being the charm and mystic of the city)...so each time we visit we pack a trailer full of misc items we rarely use (so why keep them you may ask) most of which has come from the basement storage vault. Anyhoo...we are aiming to leave shortly after lunch. This way Grant can take his nice long nap while in transit (fingers crossed).

So yesterday I took Grant to see what I thought was a Pediatric ENT (ear nose and throat) Doctor for his double ear infection and ruptured ear drum which has not healed in over a month now. Turns out he is just a regular ENT who treat lots of kids (still irritates me that they did not clarify that when I asked if he was indeed a Pediatric ENT while making the appointment grrrrr). Now I know to ask specifically if the doctor sees only kids. Live and learn right.

I was impressed by the waiting room complete with a lesson on germ sharing and a sink in which to wash hands. Loved that! The patient room was also very clean. Another perk. The Doctor introduced himself(kudos!) and was very friendly. I was also intrigued because he basically agreed with me on everything from the negative consequences of the overuse of antibiotics, being skeptical of doctors in general, the possible connection between allergies and ear infections & not giving a lot of credibility to allergy tests especially in babies.




He asked me to hold Grant for the probing...but I said that Grant was a great patient so he had him hop on the big chair. Sure enough Grant just allowed him to look deep within his ears, nose and throat (duuhhhhh). From the sound of it that doc had never had a 19 month old behave in such a way. Such a proud mama I was! So...the diagnosis...severe sinus infection, double ear infection both with bulging puss filled ear drums and enlarged adenoids. I could have told him that..but I was here for solutions. He gave me 3 options...a)do nothing, although the infection could get into his inner ear and possibly cause deafness or get into his brain and cause meningitis, b)start a round of heavy and serious antibiotics to which he had one that Grant had not tried and was not related to those he is allergic to, with the hopes that it will leave grant free of infection or c)go right to ear tubes. If the antibiotics do not work, he will recommend the ear tubes at that point.

I decided to go ahead with the antibiotics. The name is Clindaymin. Its another very old drug that is not common anymore. It is only given for serious bacterial infections because it can cause colitis and other strange blood problems. GREAT! However I really feel that I must try it because Grant is not getting better on his own and he is V miserable. The Doc said that if you or I had what he has...we would be in bed moaning. Kids tolerate pain much better...especially when they are like Grant and have extremely high pain threshold due to the amount of pain he has had to deal with in only 19 months! So I said a prayer of thanks and gratitude and am having faith that Grant will handle the drug perfectly and heal quickly.

The med is giving 3 times a day for 14 days! Whew! Its no fun. Thank GOD Grant is taking it very sweetly thus far (even though the doc said it tasted as bad as it smells). Dad and I tasted it and didnt find it offensive...strange. Oh well at least its better than expected!

So say a prayer for little Grant and know that he is healing. We are definitely pushing the probiotics and breastmilk during this time. I will also take extra acidophilus with the hopes that it passes to him from my milk.

OK off to vacuum and change over the laundry. Have a wonderful weekend and tell me all about it.

Natural Remedy for Ear Infection

How are you today? Hopefully very well. But if you are not don't dispare...change is indefininitely in the air. So don't get too comfortable even if you are on top of the world.

It snowed last night! We probably were blessed with about 3 inches of the white fluffy. This morning the ground glittered like a million diamonds in the full sun. It was quite spectacular! Grant is happily consuming mass amounts of the manna. He sure is lucky it is a heavy snow winter.

Regarding his double ear infections.....last night I threw away the bottle of Bactrim. Good riddence! That stuff is really just wrong. I mean if you are dying from a serious infection and they need to pull out all the stops...then by all means help yourself to a phat portion. However...for everyday bacterial infections...Im sorry but that stuff is just too iffy and too strong.

So I simmered some fresh garlic in olive oil and made some of Grandma's medicine. A few warm drops in each ear later...and we were off to bed. He did still squirm about in discomfort last night. I also brought out the heating pad and was very careful not to burn him but the warmth was also helpful. This morning.........his ruptured drum side was not caked with dried discharge! First time in over a week! Very exciting stuff. It did still have some "honey" in it, but much less. I went ahead and gave him the last dose of the antibiotic drops just to make sure and complete the cycle. However starting tonight...we are going with garlic oil drops & warm onion compress. As soon as I can get to the Merc we will also try our hand with Belladonna and vitamin C. I am truly excited about this turn of events! Hopefully within a few days Grant will be infection free! I will let you know our progress. By the way...it is a bit controversial to put anything in a suspected ruptered ear drum. However, from my research I feel confident going ahead with it. It absorbs through the membrane nomatter if its ruptured or not...and many parents have had great success using garlic oil for ruptures. Why is parenting always such a gamble? Nothing in this life is black or white...even if it appears so at first glance.

I must go....my boss is waiting to join me at the Historical Society's Chili Feed hehe. Beans here I come. Thanks for stopping by. Later today I hope to post some more of the "Lost Ones" that I just found.

Reality Bites - Double Ear Infections and such

Playing catch up at work is soooo much fun. But seriously...I am not ready for this abrupt end to a delicious holiday. Please take me back.

There is a board meeting tonight I am dreading. Hopefully I can get out of it.

Grant has a double ear infection...with one side ruptured and weeping for 10 days now. The pediatrician prescribed a sulphur based antibiotic, because baby bear is allergic to the penicillin varieties. After reading the insert and doing a bit of internet research...I am NOT going to give it to him. The name is Bactrim. Heard of it? Well its older than penicillin and you can straight up die from it (sure its 1 in a million...but do you want your kid to be that 1?). Sounds like around 50% of folks have side effects from it...and knowing my son...he would be one of them. Besides the fact that this drug is some scary ass shit stuff - I'm not into antibiotics for the most part. They really screw up your gut flora so much that it can take 18 months to recover! Gut health has ALOT to do with overall health.

Anyhoo....now I am scrambling to do natural remedy type treatment. This thread on mothering.com is my starting point. Geesh...I wish I would have been prepared early on. My original method of treatment was watch and wait. Usually it should have healed already on its own. However...since that has not happened...I'm going in for the kill.

Now I have to defend myself to my mother and my husband as to why the bottle of Bactrim we paid for yesterday is going in the garbage.

I would appreciate any advice on holistic treatment for his boo boo.

Sick and sicker

Times are....times are tough challenging to say the least. Grant's ear was FULL of dried wax when we picked him up from day care. After a nice hot shower...I swiped ALOT of a honey like substance from it. Tres reminiscent of the ruptured ear drum of just 3 months ago! Should I take him to the Dr...just to find out what I already know? I really should make the journey to the chiropractor! Yes...I shall call for an appt. I soooo dread that trip though...35 minutes one way..and Grant still detests his car seat for anything longer than 3 minutes..and even that's too long sometimes.

The crazy thing is...he never let on that his ear was killing him! Yes he has has interrupted sleep lately..especially the night before last (when it was super full and almost bursting). I thought it was most likely teething (always the safe alibi)..which he IS teething ...the BIG 4 - 2 year molars...all at once! I truly believe his pain threshold is very high. GERD babies tend to be this way...because they are born into pain...so they become immune to it for the most part.

I sure hope he doesn't loose any hearing from all of this!

My husband Dave has been moping about for days with a serious head cold. Last night he coughed ALLLL night. I sure hope we don't get it as bad as he. Yes I have a cold...but I am holding my own. I'm sure the herbal tea and extra vitamins help. My concern is that Grant and I will get super sick upon arriving in Florida. Or that Grant's ears will hurt terribly on the plain. HOWEVER.........I am not going to live in fear. Fear will eat me alive. I can lay awake at night thinking of all the things that could wrong on this trip...(and I have done so)....but I AM NOT GOING TO DO IT ANYMORE. Live in the present Paula. Prepare and then go and enjoy...as much as humanely possible.


Oh and to top off this lovely array of yuckies....my dear old pup Sadi who is like almost 14....has a strange looking wart / tumor (warmor?) on her butt..and she is aggravating it so it was bleeding a lot last night. I applied witch hazel...but Im not going to pay for it to be removed...am I? Garsh...all this right before we leave on a big airoplane Thursday morning. Pray for me.

Ruptured Ear Drum

man today has been BUSY and hectic but fun at the same time.

Grant has a perforated ear drum (bummer). What i had chalked up to teething anger on saturday and sunday ended up being intense pressure building up in his head and the BAHM....bursting. My first clue was the "honey" seeping from his right ear. Other than that...he never tugged or rubbed on his ear at all. He had pointed inside his mouth..while cursing and sighing in exhaustion. Guess the pain was in his head -inside there.

So Monday I took him to the local ol dr stevens (a gem!) who declared what i knew to be true. He strongly encouraged us to use the antibiotics bc there is a serious infection less than an inch from his brain. We upped probiotic to double strength during the treatment. Other than that...we are using cotton balls during showers to reduce entry and keeping him comfortable. The little guy is such a trooper though...has a high pain threshold.

We also took him to the chiropractor monday and tuesday. It helps so much to drain the ears and his jaw was even out a bit. We love love love our chiropractors. They are such good souls..that they treat children for free so they dont miss out! Grant has truly benefited from their goodness. I counted up and he has been there 18 times since January! He really digs getting adjusted...lays there with great anticipation..and usually hugs them afterwards. Its something else.

Hope you are having a quality day! peace