Ear infection... again

January 18, 2012
I'm starting to wonder if Cole's ears are actually his Achilles heel because he's got another ear infection. Last year we went through a spurt of four straight months with ear infections. Each time in a different ear.

He was so grumpy and getting up in the middle of the night that I just had this feeling that something was off. And that it was probably his ears. The only problem is, unless his ear infections are really, really bad, he won't get a fever. He had an ear infection last month and I didn't even know it! Had we not gone in for his 18-month check-up, all of us would have suffered through sleepless nights until it eventually got so bad a fever broke out. So after a few nights of putting Cole in our bed to get him back to sleep, I sent Jeff and the kids to the Instacare.

Diagnosis. Ear infection. Again.

At what point do we seriously consider getting tubes? He's had at least eight diagnosed ear infections in his life (always during cold and flu season) but they always clear up. Our pediatrician feels that you shouldn't get tubes if the infections clear up each time. Besides, tubes don't guarantee you won't get another ear infection and can even make them more frequent. But the doctor at the Instacare suggested we ask our pediatrician about them again because Cole could have constant fluid in his ears. Which might affect his speech. Well, that got me super paranoid because the kid has maybe three words that are distinguishable to someone other than myself or Jeff.

(Oh, and the real reason I took this picture today, was to show you this awesome bottle from the pharmacy at Target! Seriously! I've never had a pharmacy fill his prescription in a bottle I can tip upside down to get the medicine out. This will make it so much easier to get the last dose out and zero spills. Plus, Target does a great job with health literacy concepts with big print and simple instructions on the label.)