update

well, we ended up at dr. khanfar's office this morning. after cancelling this past wednesday's appt o never really made any progress in getting better. just stayed the same. last night rett said she was up until almost 11 just coughing and all around not acting right. so off we go this morning to the saturday clinic. of course i'm expecting the rsv test to be positive and it wasn't! it was negative! my exact words to khanfar were, "for real?" (i should have had the foresight to come up with something better than that but oh well! he was probably thinking, "this poor hick woman!") we've NEVER had a negative rsv test so i wasn't prepared for that. he checked her ears and then said her left ear is VERY infected. like it's blistered. and will probably rupture. i just looked at him in shock. he asked if she'd been cranky and i said no (she really hasn't but that explains why she had a tough time going to sleep last night.) i swear, my child... this is only her 3rd ear infection and the other 2 have both come on the heels of rsv (which is common) and she's NEVER given me ANY indication that her ears were hurting. i don't know if a high pain tolerance is a good or bad thing! so she got a rochepin and decadron shot and an antibiotic. oh, she also has broncholitis (whatever that is) which explains the cough/wheezing.

so, should i have waited a week to go to the dr? probably not. but you can't fix what you don't know is there so i'm not beating myself up about it. will it happen again? probably. i can't run to the dr every time she coughs funny. i'm going to try the breathing treatments first b/c her history tells me to do that. now, if she has other symptoms then yes going to the dr is called for. i hate it if she's been in pain for a few days; no one wants their baby in pain. but i guess it wasn't all that painful b/c she's been her normal self this whole past week! i take comfort in that!! :)

and for all of you reading this that have never experienced a ruptured ear - dr. khanfar assured me there is no need to go to the ER or to an after hours clinic. he said if it happens this weekend just to call him monday morning. all the ER or anyone else will tell you to do is to continue the antibiotic. i'm so glad he told me that! Lord knows i would have gone to the ER if i see blood/puss coming out of her ear!! he saved me a minimum of $500 (our ER deductible!) thank you dr. khanfar! he also assured me that it rupturing would provide immediate relief. so i guess that's kind of a good thing.

now, i promise my next post will include cute pics of my sweet olivia!