Oh, otitis media! How I despise you sometimes. None of my children have had the typical symptoms of this disorder, making it difficult to really determine what is going on. About a month ago, DQ was having trouble sleeping and would wake up once or twice a night which is not like her. She also had decreased appetite, but no fever or any other problems. The poor girl has been getting tooth after tooth so we chalked her symptoms up to teething. We finally decided to take her to the doctor and low and behold she had an ear infection. After completing a course of Amoxicillin, we continued to have rough nights and some crabby days so we took her back in. Her ear infection remained so she got started on a second antibiotic. About a week later, her brother felt left out and decided he wanted to be up in the middle of the night too. Who doesn't love a little one on one time with mom or dad? After a REALLY rough night, he bought himself a trip to the doctor too. He was diagnosed with an ear infection too (interesting that it was the same ear as his twin). Since he had recently been on Amoxicillin for an infected incision, he was started on a different antibiotic to help treat the ear infection.
DQ finished her second course of antibiotics, but continued to have rough nights and decreased appetite so back to the doctor we went, where she was diagnosed with a double ear infection. This time she got placed on the big dog antibiotic, Augmentin. I swore I would never let a child of mine be on Augmentin. AJ had a horrible experience with it, where she had non stop diarrhea while she was on the medicine and for DAYS afterwards. As you can imagine, this caused a ferocious diaper rash that took a while to clear up. I held my breath as I picked up the Augmentin for DQ, knowing we could be in for a long couple weeks. I also picked up some probiotics to hopefully reduce the diarrhea.
Last week, AJ woke up once in the middle of the night and wanted to sleep in our bed. Later that night she said her ear hurt. She seemed fine the next morning and the next day so we didn't think much of it. A couple days later she mentioned her ear still hurt so I figured I better be a responsible mom and take her to the doctor. Wouldn't you know it, she had an ear infection too! She must have felt left out when she watched her brother and sister take their antibiotics. She too got to join in the fun and take the yummy bubble gum medicine twice a day.
It was like a pharmacy in our house and I almost needed a spread sheet to keep track of everything: the antibiotic, the dosage, the probiotic (since everyone was on antibiotics, I went ahead and started everyone on a probiotic). Luckily, DQ just finished her course of Augmentin without any diarrhea and it seems like her symptoms have resolved, but we'll know for sure at her follow up appointment next week. Whew, we're hoping for a healthy Spring!
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