Little Jaggar had a rough go of it a week and a half ago. See? Trying to be more specific time wise. He's such a good looking boy, isn't he? I found myself really struggling with him lately in the listening area. And Travis has been gone so much that my patience was extremely thin. So, I just did not get his deal. At the time, I couldn't add it up to anything other than a 4 year old testing his limits and missing his dad.
But the Friday before last, I was giving him a bath and touched his ear with the wash cloth when he just began to SCREAM and cry. I was like what in the world? I thought maybe a bit of water got in it, but he was screaming that his ear hurt. So I got him out and told him that the heat from the hair dryer would help. He seemed to calm down, and I laid him on the bed on that side, hoping water would drain from it if that was the issue. Jaggar has a VERY high thresh hold for pain. He is the child that if I spank him, he'll make sure to tell me, "Hey, Mommy, that didn't hurt!" He is just a tough boy. He prefers shots at the doctor, remember? And he HATES medicine. I asked him if it felt better, and he just flatly said, "No," but he went downstairs to watch tv while I was putting Costner to bed. No more then 10 minutes later, he came screaming through the house, "MY EAR HURTS!!!" I just knew. It was bad. He doesn't act that way. I've given birth to 3 children, and I can distinctly remember specific ear infections I've had as clearly if not more than labor. It's that bad. So I began calling people that I knew were close to help me with my other 2. It was 7pm. Costner was going to bed. Sage was in her pjs. It was wind down time here, so if my neighbor could've come by and sat with the other 2, it would've been ideal. I'm thinking I'm going to CARES right by my house, which closes at 8. I called 3 or 4 different people. Multiple times. Houses and cells...with no answer. Talk about irritated and a bit frantic. I told Sage to get her clothes on because we were ALL going, and guess what? CARES was closed. They closed at 6 pm...so it was to my old employer, Patient First, in Anniston. The car ride was disturbing because every turn, Jaggar would gasp and scream, "MY EAR! Mommy help me!" Then I heard him saying, "Jesus help me!" It was pitiful. We got to the doctor's offfice, and I told them, "Look...he doesn't act like this. I know this is a full house here, but please. He is in serious pain." The kid that hates doctors was begging for a doctor. AND medicine. Thankfully, Nichole saw my missed call, called me back to see what was up, and without question from me came up to the doctor's office from where they were eating to get Sage and Costner on their own insisting. Because I'm thinking, "I'm here. I'm fine." I'm so glad she came because of COURSE we were there for forever. Jaggar was begging to be seen. Telling me his ear hurt and then screaming, "THIS PLACE IS BORING!" Then he'd say, "Is the doctor coming? Can I get some medicine?!" He was miserable and writhing, and it was heartbreaking. We got called back and they were like, "How long has this been going on/" Umm...hour and a half at this point? He literally had NO symptoms until right beforehand. No fever. No complaints. We waited in the room for even LONGER. I turned the lights off and held him while he screamed in pain. I touched his ear; it was wet. At first I thought it MIGHT be tears...but no, it was definitely draining.
So, so sad. It was traumatic for me, too, seeing him like that. I was calling and calling Travis but he never even answered because he was working. Finally the doctor came in and asked a few questions. I said that his ear was draining, and he said, 'That means it's ruptured." He looked in and his ear was bulging. He wasn't going to look for the tear because of Jaggar's pain, but he assured me once they treated it that it would heal. (A few days later, we ended up at our pediatrician with Costner, and I had her look. The tear was about a quarter of an inch, she said. Is that not crazy?!) Not only that, his other ear was infected, too. They put some numbing drops in his ears to give him some relief, gave him some ibuprofen and a shot of rocephin, as well as a Rx. By the time we left the office, he was a different kid. We went to Craig and Nichole's to get the other kids, and he was excited to tell Paisley his story of his ear infection triumph...and then talk about Christmas...and that he is going to be a bug scientist :). Sage was even bothered by how much pain he'd been in, wanting to make sure he was okay. I KNOW he couldn't have been pain free at that point, but it was enough for him...and I thought, "Does he just not even know what feeling good is?" HOW could he have let that get so bad without saying a word? Where he'd been getting up at 6 (super early for him), he instantly slept until 8 something the next morning. He is good as new now, and he was making SURE I gave him his medicine daily. Such a STARK contrast to the kid that used to spit it in our faces because he hated medicine so much. I'm glad he's such a tough boy, but not THAT tough! I told him if his ear hurt at all that I needed to know and that we'd fix it so that it never got that bad again. SO glad that night is over!
No comments:
Post a Comment