Poor Ben.
His big first brithday rolled around last week, and what was he given???
An ear infection!
I feel terrible because he probably had it for DAYS before it was diagnosed, but in nearly 7 years of parenting only one kid has had an ear infection once (Mack, when we were in Mexico of all places!), so I just never really knew what symptoms to look for. But, I suppose I should have guessed when he cried in front of his birthday cake (“its my party and I’ll cry if I want to…“):
I was happy to hear the doctor say she is reluctant to prescribe antibiotics for ear infections, in favor of a wait-and-see approach. However, Ben had been cranky and miserable and up-all-night-with-a-blood-curdling-scream, so I encouraged her to give us amoxicillin. As far as I was concerned, the days leading up to the diagnosis were the “wait-and-see”!!
So, wee Ben is now being treated to a twice daily dose of shocking pink medicine (Hello Kitty Medicine, as Vivian calls it). He loves it and it might as well be dessert.
I have four kids and a million things to keep track of, and sometimes remembering if Ben is due for a dose is enough to make my brain implode. So, I use a Sharpie marker to keep track. When we brought the prescription home, I wrote 1-10 on the bottle (he needs to be treated for 10 days). After every dose, I put a little dot next to the day. A simple trick to make sure the little fella gets his medicine.
I am happy to report that after 12 hours on the medicine Ben was back to his cheerful, adorable, huggable self. While I normally take a holistic approach to my family’s health, I can’t help but feel grateful to live in a time and place where a minor (yet painful!) infection can be easily treated.
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I use that same trick! There were a couple of weeks last month when 2 of 3 of us were on 3 different antibiotics and I was every so grateful for this little trick.
Seriously, ear infections are awful! I had my very first one in both ears last month. I tried waiting it out, and after the third day, I was sitting up in bed, pressing on the sides of my head with my hands, trying to make the searing pain stop. My husband made me go to the Urgent Care.
I’m never going to postpone getting my kids’ ears checked again!
Omg! Pics are so beautiful and adorable. <3