Last night Grace threw up. She yelled for some help and ran to the bathroom and threw up in the bathtub. Poor thing. Even when she doesn't feel well, she can be so sweet and considerate. She threw up in the bathtub so she wouldn't make a mess! She just melts my heart!
Then this morning Grace woke up with a slight fever so I called a new pediatrician we were referred to and they worked her in for an appointment. I got Grace dressed and we headed to Fairhope. The doctor looked in Grace's ears and said that it looked like all the fluid from her last ear infection never drained completely. There was fluid behind both ears and the left one was a little red. This was Grace's third ear infection in 6 months so the pediatrician decided to refer us to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist because with 3 or more ear infections in that time frame, Grace is a good candidate for ear tubes. That's so scary to me and David!
In the meantime, the doctor gave Grace two shots of antibiotics to go ahead and clear up the fluid and redness in her ears. Grace's last ear infection was 5-6 weeks ago right before we went to Charlotte for David's surgery. That means that Grace could have had fluid behind her ears for the whole time! Poor baby.
So Grace has an appointment with the ENT on Monday afternoon. David and I discussed it and we have decided to leave Grace out of school for the next 6 months or so. Grace never had ear infection problems before we put her in school because she never really got sick. And I remembered her Omaha pediatrician telling us that Grace would be prone to ear infections whenever she got a cold because of the way her ear canal is shaped. He also told us that it would just be temporary and by the time she was 3 1/2 to 4 her ears would have developed enough that Grace would have grown out of being subject to infections whenever she got sick.
So I'm going to take Grace to the ENT on Monday afternoon, but we're going to hold off on putting Grace back in school for at least the next six months with the hopes that she won't get another ear infection in that time frame and we can avoid putting tubes in her ears.
I'm an old fart and I still get ear infections all the time. I had two last year. I never had tubes, but if they will help her when she's older I say go for it now. I'd do anything to not have to worry about getting another ear infection.
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