Monday, February 8, 2010

An ear infection

Logan had another really rough night last night. He woke up about midnight and then every 10-15 minutes (I'm not even exaggerating, I was timing it!) thereafter. About 1am or so, Jon brought him into bed with us, hoping he'd finally just calm down and fall asleep. We didn't know what was wrong other than him being sick. We both tried sleeping while our toddler kicked and squirmed and whined and rolled and whimpered between us. He was like the dog circling 7 times for just the right spot to lie down in, only he never found that right spot. It was miserable.

About 2am or so, I can't really remember, I asked if he wanted to try sleeping in his own bed and he said yes (or more like HELL YEAH LADY that's what I've been WAITING for, what TOOK YOU SO LONG). So, I brought him back to his bed and rubbed his back until he fell asleep. Went back to bed and the vicious 10-15 minute wake up calls continued.

MOMMY!! Mommy, back please (he wanted me to rub his back).

So at about 3 or maybe 3:30am? Who knows, I certainly lost count, we brought him back to bed with us again, not knowing what else to do. LUCKILY, this time he fell asleep and slept (I had him sorta propped up in the crook of my arm wrapped around him, so maybe that helped) until morning.

Once morning hit, we could tell he still wasn't himself. His fever had come back (102) and he was coughing up a storm. He cried anytime I left his side and at one point, while Jon laid him down on the bed to change his diaper, he started SCREAMING at us. We couldn't figure out what he was saying at first, and suddenly it dawned on me, he was yelling "Logan's falling! Logan's falling!" (even though he wasn't at risk of falling off the bed). Jon and I wondered if it was possible he had vertigo, since he's normally really well balanced. It dawned on me that he had said that a few times over the weekend too, which I had thought was strange for him but hadn't thought much more about it until then.

Luckily, his doctor's office called (I had left a semi-desperate voice mail last night to CALL ME THE MINUTE YOU GUYS OPEN TOMORROW PLEASE PLEASE OH PRETTY PLEASE) and said they could see us at 9:15am and could we make it? It was 8:45am, Logan and I were still in our pj's and I was all oh hell yeah, we'll be there.

As it turns out, Logan was pretty bad off. His temp rose to 103.9 when we got to the dr's office, and he was so miserable that he clung to me, arms and legs wrapped around my body, not even looking up or blinking as Dr. Safir checked his eyes, ears, mouth, chest, etc. Other than obviously appearing super sick (Dr. Safir immediately said, clearly he's feeling shitty - this isn't the Logan I'm used to seeing) he had a horrible ear infection that made Dr. Safir jump back a couple feet with surprise. He wasn't sure how Logan wasn't complaining about the pain since it looked pretty bad. :( Logan's complained of an "owie" but when we ask him where, he can't point it out.... so I guess now we know where (it also explains the vertigo and eye infection symptoms).

Dr. Safir was actually really concerned. Of the 50-60 patients he sees in a day (I can't believe he really sees that many), he said 2-3 will actually be this sick. He wanted to make sure we treated the ear infection pronto, as well as got his fever down to a manageable level. He also wanted to make sure I was getting plenty of fluids into Logan since he could get dehydrated pretty quickly.

So, we gave him a shot of antibiotics to get it into his system right away, along with a prescription that we'll start tomorrow. We're on a rigid Tylenol/Motrin rotation every 4 hours (apparently rotating between the two is better than using just one type when you've got a fever this high) with lots of fluids.

Logan was clearly exhausted after the appointment, poor guy. We got home and I propped him up in our bed with a choice of several movies. He actually got into a better mood after a few hours, and ate some Cheerios along with the "just two sips" of apple juice or Gatorade that I insisted he take every 20 minutes. He also had some Jello that I made to help get some liquid into him (suggestion from the nurse) - and loved that. ;-)

Nap time was actually the roughest part of the day, since he woke up a few times crying in my arms non-stop for about 15-20 minutes. It's the first time I've seen him rub at his ear, so I can only guess the pain is really bothering him. I wanted so much to help him get over the pain and sleep some more (he'd keep his eyes closed, still clearly very tired and wanting to sleep) but had no idea what to do. I called the doctor again and they said other than the antibiotics and Motrin which we've already given him, there's not much else to do.

And then the nurse said, almost as an after thought, oh and try to keep him propped up, since lying down will hurt more.

AHA! I finally realized why poor Loganito's been having trouble sleeping!

We're supposed to keep a close eye on him throughout the day and night, and if he's the same or any worse tomorrow, Dr. Safir wants to see him again. I'm hoping it won't come to that but we'll just have to wait it out and see.

2 comments:

Kimmy said...

oh no! Oh man, I feel for him. Ear infections are about the worst form of hell.

I had a huge problem with them and I'll admit what always helped mine a little was holding something warm against that ear. Same sort of effect as a few drops of warm oil but less drainage issues

Arlo said...

Sounds awful! Hope he's feeling better real soon!!