Wednesday, January 21, 2009

What field trip?



Today was supposed to be Dan's preschool field trip to the Wildlife World Zoo.
I guess you can tell by the photo that he didn't go.
He has had a cold for almost a week now. He ran a fever for a few days, and then just couldn't seem to get over the cough. I kept him home from preschool on Friday, and from church on Sunday. No sense in sharing his cooties. I figured with Monday being a holiday and after all that time at home he would be right as rain by now.
Then a couple of days ago he started complaining that his head hurt. When I would ask him to show me where it hurt he would either rub the top of his head or point to his forehead. He would even wake up in the middle of the night and come and tell me that his head hurt.
This morning I took him to urgent care and had them take a look at him.
The PA looks in one ear and says "Buddy, doesn't your ear hurt?" Exclamation point!
Dan "No."
PA "Are you sure this ear doesn't hurt?" Can you hear the doubt in his voice?
Dan "No."
Now looking at me he says "He's got a major infection in that ear."
I'm just sitting there looking foolish
dumbfounded
feeling guilty
saying huh?
He walks around the table, looks in the other ear
"How about this one? Does it hurt?"
Dan "No."
Tell me, how can a child have a raging double ear infection and his mother not know?
Do we not reside in the same home?
Are his ears maybe in some strange way wired to his headache sensors?
Or am I just one of the worlds worst moms?
Two prescriptions later
One for the cough
One very expensive antibiotic
$70 and yes that's the generic
Penance perhaps.
Restitution paid for lack of knowledge.

6 comments:

Leigh said...

Don't beat yourself up. If his ears didn't hurt how were you to know? Do you have one of those cool little flash light things to peer in there routinely to check?

I'm sorry about your little guy missing his field trip.

Suzee said...

Ohh...no. But wouldn't that be great if every mom had one!

Crissie said...

Your poor baby! Have you heard about applying Vicks Vapo-rub to the bottoms of the feet and then putting on socks before bed? It is supposed to be the best way to quiet a cough.

Stephanie said...

Good luck. Sweet Dan. You're not a bad mom - how could you have known?

Heidi said...

Not a bad mom. Colin's ear drum exploded and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Someone else told me I needed to take him in. It's hard to tell!

McCrakensx4 said...

Blogged over from Leigh. I, too, was one of those moms that the dr would look at with the look of "are you kidding me that you didn't know"!! Mine never complained and it wasn't until they woke in the middle of the night with a raging fever that I would finally realize and by then it was a raging double ear infection! Hope your little guy feels better soon!