ear infection extraordinaire

I feel extreme guilt every time Lillie gets sick.  The guilt settles in from the knowledge that I daily take her to a place full of little snotty nosed kids (including my own).  I know that when she drops her spoon on the floor in the lunch room she picks it up and sticks it back in her mouth with out anyone knowing.  And I've even seen her steal another kids cup of milk and drink out of it.  She wipes her nose with a stuffed animal and then lets the other kids suck on the animal.  I've seen it all.  

This winter has been particularly tough.  Fifth's disease went around daycare which scared me half to death (it is on the list of things NOT TO GET when you are pregnant).  Of course Lillie got it.  I had to have blood work done- anxiously waited for results- and then praised the Lord to find out that I am immune and could skip the visits to the high risk specialist.

Well Fifths turned into a cold about 3 weeks ago, which then turned into a 104 temperature during a nap at daycare.  I made the appointment at the doctors and Brad scooped her up and headed over.  I knew exactly what it was.  Ear infections- two, always two.

1st round of antibiotics didn't touch the fever, second try of antibiotics brought the fever down but didn't clear the ears at all, third round was 2 shots- every other day- which brought some healing to the ears- but not enough.  4th round of antibiotics + steroids seemed to be helping, until this morning.

Back to the doctor.  6 trips to the doctor in two and half weeks.  We are on our 5th antibiotic as of today.

The guilt is killing me.

The Bear is headed to see an ENT on Monday- I know the discussion is going to be focused on how to fix our current problem and how to avoid future problems.

Fixing our current problem could involve manually bursting her eardrums, draining the fluid- testing it- and finding the right antibiotic.  All that to clear up an ear infection?  Really?

AND

I've always been anti-tubes, for no real reason except I'm not super fond of medicine.  I've thought tubes have been overused by doctors and parents who don't want to be inconvenienced by ear infections.  But, now I'm just not really sure how I feel....

Brad has been a champion.  Although he hasn't always been able to muster up a smile about the situation, he has dutifully taken his time away from school and work to run Lillie to the doctor, keep Lillie at home, pick-up her prescriptions, and schedule her appointments.

Insert more guilt here.

I send Brad with a list of questions to the doctor- and I'm always calling back after the diagnosis to ask just one more that didn't get answered.  Because, lets face it, I want to be there.

But for now, I'm thankful to have a loving and patient husband who is a team player, a super daddy and an ear infection extraordinaire.

And for a little Bear who can tolerate pain with the best of 'em.  Here's to happy ears by next weekend!
Lillie's artwork :)