The Week of Milestones

Well, BJ marked his third decade with grace and peace, albeit a bit of grumbling about being "old" and "losing all his hair" and such. We ended up celebrating for 3 days straight. And this guy didn't want a party. It all started with fajita's at Don's, with bonus snow storm (reminiscent of the snow storm just a day after his birth??). I gave BJ a day to "play golf" (computer games), sans Zoe, before we had a babysitter come over so we could get dinner and a movie.

How long it had been since we had dinner and a movie, I couldn't tell you. But the babysitter was a milestone in and of itself - truly the first time we had a non-relative, someone we were paying, watch Zoe. I tell you what - working in a high school has its advantages. Namely that you can have your pick of adolescent babysitters and do a little "background check" to boot.

(We saw Cloverfield - I admit I got pretty motion sick. Ugh. Otherwise, it was great. Except the row of preadolescent nincompoops in front of us. I finally acted the teacher and told them to watch the movie or go out in the hall. Later BJ said, "I'm glad you said something. I was getting ready to kick their seats." A mature response for a 30-year-old.)

We rounded out the celebrations with a family dinner at Domo 77 - yummy Japanese steakhouse. Zoe loved the cooking at the table bit, as if you couldn't tell.


But the biggest deal this week was Zoe's first surgery. We had, essentially, the first slot of the morning on Tuesday, so we got Zoe up just before we had to leave. I really believe the worst part of the whole experience was explaining to the Eating Machine why she couldn't have breakfast that morning.

We had been talking about going to the hospital and the surgery for several days before, so by the time we left she knew we were going to the hospital where the doctors would make her ears feel better. I'll have to get the photo off my phone, because she looked just adorable - and quite grown up - in her hospital PJs. She's always been very curious about doctors, nurses, and the medical process, so she was pretty relaxed and calm each time a nurse or someone entered the room. When it was time for her to go, she walked out of the room and down the hall all by herself, next to the nurse. Cool as a cucumber and sweet as pie.

Fifteen minutes later, they wheeled her back in. When she woke up from the anesthesia we had to let the staff know. Usually kids cry and cary on when they wake up, they said, and didn't expect her to wake up groggy but calm. I swear, this kid is one tough cookie. Within 10 minutes, she was asking for a snack (also unusual, I guess). The whole thing was done in 2 hours, and she was back to herself (and at school) the next day. We're so proud of our little girl.

Now, getting her to comply with the ear drops for the next 2 weeks is another story . . .

Let's Go Tubing!

It is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I'm still recovering from whatever stomach/intestinal virus completely knocked me out of commission on both Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Zoe wakes up with a fever. That gets worse as the day goes on. By Sunday morning, we have decided to take her to the ER to get checked out. You've all read about that. Diagnosis: ear infection. He hands us a script for amoxicilin (#1) and we're on our way.

She finishes out her medicine and is feeling better. Time goes by and she appears to be on the mend. Five days before Christmas I walk into Zoe's room to get her ready for school. The whole right side of her face is covered in crusty, pus-y goop, apparently from her right ear. I call her pediatrician and get her in that afternoon. Diagnosis: ear infection (still) and punctured ear drum. He hands us a script for Cefdinir (or something - #2) and antibiotic ear drops (#3). He sends us on our way, but with the order to return in 10 days if everything is normal, immediately if the drainage doesn't clear up in three days. On my way home, I do the math . . . that means we have to decide what to do the Sunday before Christmas . . . hmmm.

Zoe's fever & goo continues and that Sunday, Christmas Eve-Eve, we try to call the doctor. Yeah, it's a Sunday, but that's what the answering service is for, especially since he wanted us to get her checked out in 3 days if she hadn't gotten better. Simple question: should we take her to urgent care or wait until the morning? Apparently as following doctor's orders isn't an emergency, the woman who answers is unwilling to contact the pediatrician on call. We go to urgent care. Diagnosis: really icky ear infection that's invading the left ear, now. He hands us a script for Augmenten (#4) and tells us to follow up with our pediatrician. And we're on our way again.

Within 24 hours of starting Augmenten, Zoe's fever is gone and she's acting more like our perky little girl. We cancel our Christmas Eve plans - let's not be ridiculous - and are grateful that it looks like we'll have a decent Christmas Day. A week or so goes by. We visit the pediatrician to check on how her ear drum has healed and make sure the infection is gone. Diagnosis: ear drum on the mend, infection still raging in the right and hanging out in the left. Now doctor takes a big sigh. In just over a month, she's gone through 4 different antibiotics from 3 different classes. He tells us we're down to 2 options, neither of which he likes. Put her on another, very harsh, antibiotic, or refer her for tubes. It's her first ear infection. He's not ready to send her to the ENT. He hands us a script for Cleocin Ped (#5) and wants to see us again in 10 days. We're on our way once more.

Cleocin is apparently some nasty shit. The pharmacist strongly recommends we get a probiotic supplement to prevent major digestive problems (by the way - I'm totally sold on probiotics, now). She does really well, her congestion even goes away, and we think she's on the mend. We return to the doctor in 10 days, this past Monday. I skeptically hold my breath. Zoe draws on the chalkboard.

Diagnosis: her ears are still infected. Get ye to the ENT ASAP.

We visited the ENT today and Zoe is next in a long line of tubers! Seriously, we are not that surprised. BJ went through 3 or 4 sets, up until 8th grade. We knew going into having children that someone would end up with tubes. Did we expect it to occur before her second birthday? Or as a result of her very first ear infection? No. But she's got some bad ass resistant bug in her head. Both her ears are packed with thick goop. Her timpanography was flat, flat, flat. I don't see a lot of those charts in my job, but I've seen enough to know they're not supposed to look like that. She's, obviously, got temporary hearing loss right now, especially for low frequencies.

Mostly, though, I'm glad to have this resolved. It's been a lot of work missed, a ridiculous number of doctor visits, the Target pharmacist now knows us personally . . . an interesting two months. Come the end of the month, Zoe's going to be going crazy with all the new sounds she's hearing! Now let's just hope she grows out of this business before it's time to join the swim team.

Holiday Wrap-Up

It's the New Year, I'm back to work, and I'm sorely behind. Instead of a
long post about how delightful our holiday was, here's a by-the-numbers run
down:

104 - BJ's temperature the 2 days before returning to work
103 - Zoe's temperature the 3 days before Christmas
87 - packages Zoe opened
46 - rounds of Guitar Hero (1, 2, 3, 80's)
16 - salt dough ornaments cut, baked, painted, glittered, varnished,
ribboned
12 - family members around the dinner table
10 - Christmas presents ordered on etsy.com
9.5 - pounds of spiral cut, honey-glazed ham
8 - dozen cookie balls dipped in chocolate
5, er 6 - dozen cookies baked
3 - days before Christmas I didn't have to work
3 - antibiotics Zoe consumed over the holiday
2 - exhausted, dizzy parents
1 - flaming napkin threatening the house
1 - satiated, overtired, gleeful toddler