It seems that our almost one year reprieve from near constant ear infections and fluid in the ears is over with. This morning Hannah complained that her ear hurt and when preschool called to tell us to come pick her up because they thought she had pink eye Kyle took her to the doctor and it was confirmed. She does indeed have an ear infection as well as pink eye. The worst part about it is that her ear tubes have slipped out of position in both ears (we found out they might be starting to shift in October). It appears that she got an infection pretty much immediately after the tube had moved out of place. This does not bode well. The way I see it (I realize I'm jumping to conclusions, but I have lots of experience with Hannah's ears to go on) we have two options. First we could just let the tubes fall out and go through the cycle of constant ear infections again and risk Hannah having hearing loss from the fluid building up on her ear drum again like last time. OR we can put Hannah through another surgery to replace the tubes and hopefully get another reprieve from the constant infections, but risk having a
recurrence of the post op pneumonia she had last time after being under general anesthesia. I don't like either option. I suppose a third option is that we do nothing and the infections just never come back, that this infection was just a coincidence, but somehow I don't think that is a viable option or a likely outcome. Oh, and to top off poor Hannah's ear infection and pink eye she also started complaining of a tummy ache around lunch time and then finally threw up right around dinner time. I was actually pretty worried about this day. The last time Hannah threw up (not counting the times she's made herself throw up when she was angry) she was only a year old and not really old enough to remember how it feels. I was
worried about how she would react when the day finally came that she got sick to her stomach. I expected her to be hysterical. After all, it's a scary feeling to not be able to control your body. I shouldn't have worried though because she took it like a champ and was actually fascinated by the products of her efforts. I suppose it helped that her vomit was bright purple thanks to some blueberries! After throwing up we gave her a bowl to take around with her in case she felt sick again and wasn't able to make it to the toilet. When it was time for bed (she actually ASKED to go to bed around 6pm tonight by the way! That about gave me a heart attack!) she said that she thought she needed to take the bowl with her. Just a few minutes ago when she got up to go to the bathroom she told me that now she was just like me because she had her own bowl by her bed (I have gastropariesis and frequently throw up a night) and she sounded so proud! Great! That's not exactly what I had imagined her wanting to emulate about me! The funny part is that she was concerned that Kyle doesn't have his own bowl. She even offered to share her bowl with him if he needed it. How generous of my little girl :) Then the final nail in the coffin today was that both Kyle and I are pretty sure that we both have pink eye too!
It seems that our almost one year reprieve from near constant ear infections and fluid in the ears is over with. This morning Hannah complained that her ear hurt and when preschool called to tell us to come pick her up because they thought she had pink eye Kyle took her to the doctor and it was confirmed. She does indeed have an ear infection as well as pink eye. The worst part about it is that her ear tubes have slipped out of position in both ears (we found out they might be starting to shift in October). It appears that she got an infection pretty much immediately after the tube had moved out of place. This does not bode well. The way I see it (I realize I'm jumping to conclusions, but I have lots of experience with Hannah's ears to go on) we have two options. First we could just let the tubes fall out and go through the cycle of constant ear infections again and risk Hannah having hearing loss from the fluid building up on her ear drum again like last time. OR we can put Hannah through another surgery to replace the tubes and hopefully get another reprieve from the constant infections, but risk having a 
recurrence of the post op pneumonia she had last time after being under general anesthesia. I don't like either option. I suppose a third option is that we do nothing and the infections just never come back, that this infection was just a coincidence, but somehow I don't think that is a viable option or a likely outcome. Oh, and to top off poor Hannah's ear infection and pink eye she also started complaining of a tummy ache around lunch time and then finally threw up right around dinner time. I was actually pretty worried about this day. The last time Hannah threw up (not counting the times she's made herself throw up when she was angry) she was only a year old and not really old enough to remember how it feels. I was 
worried about how she would react when the day finally came that she got sick to her stomach. I expected her to be hysterical. After all, it's a scary feeling to not be able to control your body. I shouldn't have worried though because she took it like a champ and was actually fascinated by the products of her efforts. I suppose it helped that her vomit was bright purple thanks to some blueberries! After throwing up we gave her a bowl to take around with her in case she felt sick again and wasn't able to make it to the toilet. When it was time for bed (she actually ASKED to go to bed around 6pm tonight by the way! That about gave me a heart attack!) she said that she thought she needed to take the bowl with her. Just a few minutes ago when she got up to go to the bathroom she told me that now she was just like me because she had her own bowl by her bed (I have gastropariesis and frequently throw up a night) and she sounded so proud! Great! That's not exactly what I had imagined her wanting to emulate about me! The funny part is that she was concerned that Kyle doesn't have his own bowl. She even offered to share her bowl with him if he needed it. How generous of my little girl :) Then the final nail in the coffin today was that both Kyle and I are pretty sure that we both have pink eye too!
8 comments:
I was just reading something recently that linked diet to chronic ear infections. Have you ever considered that for Hannah? Food sensitivities can, apparently, affect some people with chronic ear infections.
I'm not sure how to determine which foods would be the culprit behind ear infections, but the three most common sensitivities are to casein, soy and gluten.
Just something else to throw into your arsenal of options.
Aww... poor girl! Sorry to hear she has been feeling so bad lately. I hope the ear infection is just a one time thing and not a sign of things to come.
Meechi had the toughest time with them for well over a year. When we got a new doctor for him, she did xrays of his sinuses and realized he actually had a deep sinus infection that wasn't getting totally cured and would then get worse and bring on the ear infections as well. She put him on two weeks of a strong antibiotic and we haven't had much trouble since. It just amazes me all the different things that can cause a problem like ear infections!
NO!! I'm so sorry! Those ear infections! What are we going to do with these girls? I have been wondering when Viv's would start. I will be praying for her. It doesn't sound like any of those 3 options are good. Sorry about the pink eye and the puking, too. Nice weekend! :(
My oldest had ear infections and two sets of tube and adenoids taken out. He didn't fair too well after the second surgery. But in the end it did help with the ear infections.
He also grew up with a bucket beside his bed. He has asthma where he'd cough until he threw up.
Thankfully, he'd 17 and all past that stuff. And the two younger ones didn't have these issues.
Ohmigosh, such craziness in your house! I have to giggle about the bowls, though. It sounds just like something that could happen in my own house.
I hope there's a better solution to be found regarding the tubes. If it's any consolation at ALL, my own Little Man used to get ear infections monthly until he was about 4 or 4.5 years old. Knock on wood, he hasn't had any for at least a year! There's hope!
Thanks for all the info on ear infections and the well wishes for Hannah. I really appreciate it. Please keep her in your prayers.
Natalie
My oldest daughter had non-stop ear infections also. She had tubes at 14 months and after those dropped out, she went through a time when she had 7 in a year. But by the time she reached 2nd grade, things progressively got better.
Hang in there. Whatever you decide will be OK.
Sorry to hear about the pink eye. That's never fun.
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Joan Stepsen
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