What do you do when you feel completely helpless as a mom?

The last few weeks have been extremely frustrating for me, and has made me question “Do Moms really know more about their own child than a Doctor does?” At times, I think the answer might be a resounding YES– at least in this case.

During the week of July 4th, my youngest daughter Courtney’s (age 10) left ear started hurting. The pain wasn’t bad enough nor was it consistent enough for us to feel that a trip to the Dr. was necessary. Finally that Sunday, the 10th she said it was hurting pretty bad.

I took her to our regular family Dr. on Monday, July 11th. Our usual doctor was unavailable so we had to see a P.A. I was a little leary seeing a P.A. but I figured it was ear pain– it could be an ear infection or it could be Swimmer’s Ear. I was actually leaning towards Swimmer’s ear since it was summertime and she’d been swimming nearly every single day for the last two weeks.

The PA however had a different opinion.  He diagnosed her with an ear infection in the left ear, and prescribed 5 days of Zithromax.  Cost: $20 co-pay and $15 prescription

This got her through until Friday, July 15th.   She was feeling better but still had a little bit of ear pain– AM I THE ONLY ONE QUESTIONING THE DIAGNOSIS AT THIS POINT?

Now again, the pain was not coming back consistently nor was it as bad once the medicine was finished.   So we went on with our routine.

On Tuesday, July 19th, Courtney left to go stay with my mother-in-law for 8 days. 

On Thursday, July 21st, her ear pain was so bad they took her back to the doctor– a different one this time, closer to where they live.  Again, she was diagnosed with ear infection in her left ear- NOT SWIMMERS EAR LIKE I KEEP SUGGESTING.   Cost: $20 co-pay, $15 for new antibiotic (Amoxicillin) and $12.95 for numbing ear drops.

That same evening, Courtney called home and was miserable with ear pain.   She wanted to come home.   That’s when I knew it was hurting bad, because she was having so much fun at Grandma’s.    I had never had experience with this painful of an ear infection.  Usually, with my kids, the pain starts to subside after the first couple doses of medicine.

Not this time.

At 11:30pm Thursday evening, we made the decision to take her to the Emergency Room.  We were unable to control her pain, and by this point, it was moving down to her jaw and into her neck.

At 12:30am Friday morning, Courtney was diagnosed in the ER with Swimmer’s Ear.  As that doctor stated, it was “pretty obvious” it was Swimmer’s Ear. We were given a prescription for antibiotic ear drops and told to stop taking the Amoxicillin, but still can use the numbing drops. We were told if the pain did not get better, we were to follow up with our regular doctor.  Cost: $50 ER visit and $50 prescription for the new ear drops.

We went home that night thinking we had finally found something that was going to work.

I stayed home with Courtney all day on Friday and she was doing ok.  Still having some pain, but nothing like it was before. 

By Friday night, however, she was in horrible pain.  Again, the pain was radiating down to her jaw and into her neck.  She was not only complaining of horrible ear pain in both ears, but also a very bad headache.  And this wasn’t just complaining about pain.   It was doubled over, crying big crocodile tears, horrible “I can’t stand this” pain.   I was nervous pumping her full of Advil and Tylenol every few hours, since it didn’t seem to be even touching the pain she was having.

We made a call to the Mercy Nurse around 10pm Friday night, and we were told if we couldn’t control her pain we needed to take her back to the ER.

So, for the second night in a row, we headed to the Emergency Room. We arrived there around midnight.  I told the same lady that was there the night before what the problem was, and they took one look at Courtney, bawling her eyes out, and immediately took her back to a room.

We spent the next couple hours there, and THEY WERE WONDERFUL.   They promised her they would get rid of her pain, and immediately gave her a pretty strong painkiller.  (In order to not get flooded with spam, I will say the drug starts with a “V” and rhymes with SPIKE-O-DIN. hehe)

The Doctor also explained that she must have been having a reaction to the numbing drops the previous Dr has prescribed Thursday afternoon, because Courtney’s left ear was swollen almost completely shut.  By this time, I was almost ready to cry, because HOLY HELL- MY BABY WAS IN PAIN AND TWO FREAKIN’ DOCTORS MIS-DIAGNOSED THIS.

They had to put a wick in her left ear to get medicine into it, since it was so swollen.    I was told to keep using the antibiotic drops, THROW AWAY THE NUMBING DROPS, and they gave me a prescription for “SPIKE-O-DIN with a V”, and also a muscle relaxer (VAL-YUM) to ease the tension in her jaw and neck,  WHICH WAS BEING CAUSED BY THE HORRIBLE STABBING EAR PAIN, which had now progressed to BOTH EARS.

By this point, I was simply livid.  Happy that my baby was going to be feeling better, but royally pissed off that it took us this long to diagnose something that was so incredibly rampant this time of year. Cost: $50 ER co-pay and $30 for the two perscriptions.

Thank God we have good insurance.  Even though this cost us over $250, it could have been much worse.  Thankfully, she only had to take the pain pills & muscle relaxer through Saturday afternoon.  The pain was gone by then, and all she had left was an upset stomach from the meds.  She did end up throwing a few times Saturday evening, but by Sunday… things were back to normal.

If only I had a video camera with me while we were waiting at the 24-hour pharmacy for the second night in a row.  Because a 10-year old doped up on “wacky pills” ?? (as she referred to them).  THAT was pretty darn hilarious.