Sunday, March 2, 2008

Home, Drugs in Hand

We are home, Landon is acting much more like a Landon, and JP and I are like the walking dead. We decided to go to Northwestern Children's Memorial hospital. It's closer to us and doesn't have the memories or medical files of the Univ. of Chicago Children's. While I'm pretty sure that not even Dr. K could try to link Landon's fever and lethargy to child abuse, there was no way we were taking that chance - and we just couldn't handle knowing that any ER doctor viewing Landon's medical file would see all the notes and red flags from his last stay. I feel like it would change the way they looked at us and I didn't want to deal with that.

When we walked into the ER Landon was on fire and so listless it was really starting to scare me. I tried to sit him up in my lap to unzip his outfit and he kept crumpling over. He hadn't drank more than a few ounces since 5 PM Saturday night and his breathing has very rapid and shallow. We were given Tylenol and Pedialyte and sent back to urgent care- where we waited almost three hours to be seen by the doctor. A few minutes before she came in we were ready to leave - Landon had cooled down and perked up, he was drinking well, and making nice wet diapers. Luckly she came in pretty soon after that, looked in Landon's ears, and started pulling lots of gunk out of the left one. Apparently it was solidified pus which had hardened in the ear canal and exerted extra pressure on his painful, bright red, raging ear infection. No wonder he cried for 13 hours. She said there was so much stuff in the ear she couldn't even see the infection until she spent 5 minutes digging it out. He's now on a new, stronger antibiotic and receiving alternating doses of Tylenol and Motrin. His temperature is normal, he's drinking much better, and he even flirted with a woman at Chipotle when JP and I grabbed lunch at 4:30. Those coy smiles were a relief to see.

Thank you all very much for your concern and well wishes. After trying to piece together the events of last night with JP it appears that I got about 75 minutes of sleep, so that's 15 more than I thought! Of course no studying took place today, but JP is taking off work to stay home with Landon tomorrow so that I can go to school. I have a reaction paper due Tuesday on a gigantic scholarly article I haven't even downloaded yet. But it'll get done and most important is the fact that Landon just saw his cat and got a giant smile on his face as he lunged out to grab as much of her fur as possible. That's our boy.

18 comments:

  1. Aww.. I am so glad he is feeling better. Those ear infections are evil. Have you talked to your doctor any more about tubes? I'm telling you it will make a huge difference. That and baby Motrin makes life with a baby in daycare bearable.

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  2. So glad to hear he is feeling better. I having been consantly refreshing on my blackberry.

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  3. Glad things are looking up over there -- I hope you get some SLEEP!

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  4. Oh poor little guy! And poor parents! I hope he continues to feel better and better. Good luck with finals!

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  5. not sure which pediatric practice you are looking to use when you move to Austin, but you should try Pediatric Associates of Austin - they are open on the weekends which is a great benefit for weekends like these

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  6. Aw man - that hurts just reading about it... poor little L! Hope he's feeling lots better and glad you were able to go to an alternate ER.

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  7. poor baby! I'm so glad that you are all home, safe and sound.

    stupid ear infection.

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  8. I am so glad Landon is feeling better- hope you all get some rest tonight!

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  9. Glad to hear things are better.

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  10. Ear gunk, yuck! Glad that's all it was and that he's feeling better.

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  11. Until those eustachian tubes change their angle, as Landon grows, they will be prone to infection due to poor drainage. We also had one of our kids who got plenty of these infections and we put the tubes into help. They did.

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  12. Thank goodness. Poor little guy. :( Sounds painful!!!

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  13. So glad Landon is feeling better!

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  14. OMG! I vote you have his ears removed, and in stall larger, rabbit-sized ones in their stead so that you can deal with the infections in an expedited manner. Sure, he may get made fun of in school, but it'll be worth it!

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  15. yay! I'm glad Landon's feeling better! Ear infections are the worst.

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  16. phew! so glad to hear it was something they could do something about! When Cooper had a fever of 103 a few weeks ago and was listless and wouldn't eat/drink, it scared me silly. What made me feel worse was when they couldn't find any reason why and sent me home with instructions to use Motrin and Tylenol, and try to push fluids. They think he might've had a touch of the flu, since he hadn't gotten a chance to get his 2nd flu shot after the one in January.
    Glad to hear he's on the mend...I hope you and JP get some sleep, too, now!

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  17. Oh I'm so glad to hear he's feeling better! I had a horrible ear infection like that once, complete with solidified pus. I was at least able to communicate my pain. Poor Landon! I don't know if it's acceptable use for babies, but after swimming I'd always swab my ears with a tiny bit of alcohol to help dry up any excess moisture. Maybe that will help him?

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  18. Oh, poor Landon! That's awful! I'm so glad he's feeling better now.

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