TOUGH WEEK

Well, for those of you who know my family history..this one takes the cake. Jacob, who last year was admitted Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec for poorly controlled asthma has been AWESOME for 8 months now with not one flare up!!!! Then, we had a little "freeby" get away last weekend and we came home to a monster of issues. Jake kept complaining of jaw pain and I looked in his mouth and he seemed to be getting his 6 year old molars. They were really swollen and red. I gave him Tylenol( remember he has an anaphylactic reaction to Motrin). Well, he stopped complaining. A few days later, he was at swim team and he told the swim coach his ear hurt, so I told my mom to bring him up to see Dr. V and she did. He said that he had swimmer's ear. We treated with ear drops for 5 days. 2 days later, we were at the Hudson's and he was not playing at all with the kids, he said his ear hurt again. At church...his teacher came and got me out of class and said, he really looks like he is in pain. So, I took him home and then it all started. He was screaming for hours, so, about midnight, I took him in. The doctor asked which ear hurt and they checked the GOOD ear..that had an ear infection. Then, he checked the so called BAD ear, and that ear was completely closed up from swelling and had drainage from a middle ear infection and on top of that...swimmers ear on the external part. WHAT!!!!!!! How can this be??? Of all of the issues we have dealt with...ears have never been an issue. So, due to the fqact that he can't take Motrin, they had to give Lortab (Tylenol with Codeine), yup, you guessed it...All over the van. Obviously codeine did not set right with his GI tract...that went on for 3 days. Lots of cleaning up. So, 4 days later, he is getting worse, now...he had red swelling behind his ear and does not respond when I speak to him, so I get nervous(about hearing loss). I called the Pedi and they were closed(weekend). So now, I am left with old reliable...Dr, Kalik. (He is my all time #1 source) He suggested that I take him into the ER and get re checked because he thinks he may not be getting any drops into the canal because it is so swollen. He says that they may need to place a WIC. So, off we do the ER thing again..indeed, they had to place this tube inside his ear to provide an opening for the antibiotic ear drops to penetrate. They offered my little man Morphine to help with the pain during the procedure and he declined and took it so well. He is such a trooper. So, they inform me that we have to return after church yesterday to re check to make sure that it is working and the infection has not spread to the mastoid bone. We did, God took care of him...he improved so much in just a few hours. Amazing!!! Today, he woke up sleeping on that side, I couldn't believe it, medical tech amazed me every day!!!
Bottom Line...$250.00 X 3 ER visit copays
#300.00 in 4 prescriptions
Good Medical Coverage is so hard to find today. But, at least we have it now, it could have been much, much more.
Thanks for reading..I had to vent it all out.