Creating Kris ~ a young mom blogs…

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Harmony’s ear

Harmony’s had a cold/flu for the past couple days. A fever yesterday, a mixed-bag of symptoms including a bit of a cough, nausea, tiredness, sore throat. This morning she was up around quarter after 5 and I gave her some gravol for the nausea and diarrhea. At lunch she was doing pretty well, she ate almost all of her soup, and the only symptom really bothering her was the sore throat. Gave her a bit of plain acetaminophen for that. No fever. We had a quiet day, stayed close to home and just had a little walk over to the mailbox and across the street to say “hi” to a couple of her friends who were playing outside. She wasn’t skipping along but wasn’t dragging her feet either. We even had some giggles over the fact that my wireless mouse was controlling her game when we were both on our computers for a bit together!

Throughout the afternoon though, she had started having some ear congestion and was complaining things sounded a bit muffled. Then she started having some ear pain. We gave her some decongestant and she was able to sleep a bit but then woke up an hour and a half later with increased ear pain. It was a constant pain but with the occasional sharp shooting pain. “Like a knife”, she described it. Called Telehealth but there was a 30-45min wait for a nurse to call, so we asked for a call-back. Called Harmony’s doctor but the clinic was almost closed and there were no more spots available tonight. Most of the other clinics in the city were also closed or closing. Telehealth called back (while I was getting her into a bath) and after going through all the symptoms, they recommended she be seen in the next 4 hours.

It was a toss-up who would take her to CHEO. Under normal circumstances, it would be me. Especially as I’d spent the past couple days home with her and was managing all her meds and symptoms and meals and fluids and what not. But Paul was the one who could drive (more on that later, I’m still not allowed to!) and who could more easily tolerate sitting in a waiting room chair for an unspecified amount of time, and Harmony actually didn’t have a preference, so he got to go.

I’m proud of him, actually, there was no question of what to do. He just said “She’s my daughter” and we’d do whatever we needed to do. He recognized he might not be the same towards her in the “comforting and consoling” department, but I think he will do just fine. And she knows what to expect from him so I think she can deal with the fact that Dad’s way of showing concern is different than Mom’s. I think mainly she just needed to be taken seriously and to know that we listen to and validate her feelings. Pain being a very important one! So although I’m worried about them, I know they will be OK and that Paul will really be doing his best to look out for her and get the best possible care.

Poor kiddo, I hope the wait time isn’t awful! She said it was the worst pain she can remember having, isn’t that heartbreaking? What a sucky thing to have to deal with at only 9 years old!!! Her ear looked fine on the outside but you could tell she was just suffering (I wish I could’ve taken it on her behalf). She just wanted it to be over, wanted the pain to stop. And she suspected she wouldn’t sleep even if she did try to stay at home for the night and see a doctor in the morning, so overall I guess this was the best choice. I just wish hospitals would be more comfortable and have shorter wait times!! Maybe it won’t be as bad since it’s CHEO? I don’t know, I’ve fortunately never had to bring either of the kids there before.

*fingers crossed* they are home soon with a much more comfortable Harmony and some solutions for whatever is hurting her ear.

sickie pic-ie

my poor munchkin!!