Ear Infections and Hives...

The girls each broke a record two weeks ago. Cara first. She was crabby on and off all of Brynn's birthday, Sunday, March 13, and then did not sleep a wink on Sunday night unless she was in either Darren or my arms. She had been running a low grade fever since the Thursday before, but I honestly thought it was her molars because she kept chewing on her cup at dinner...not to mention we have never had to deal with ear infections before. We kept her home on Monday and I took her to her pediatrician on Monday afternoon. They checked her all out including her ears. Left ear, "Looks perfect." After that comment I was thinking, 'well tell me how I can make her feel better then' not thinking that one ear could be infected. Then she took a look at her right ear, "Ooh, ooh, ooh. That looks bad, really, really bad." Poor girl! I had no idea. We have NEVER had to deal with ear infections or any sort of antibiotic before so it wasn't even on my radar. We were sent home with a prescription of Amoxicillian and hopes that she should feel better by Wednesday. The amoxicillian did the trick and by Tuesday she was feeling like a million bucks.

Then it was Brynn's turn to break a record. She had her 4 year well child exam bright and early on Wednesday morning before she went to Lynn's and I went to work. As they always do they checked her temperature first thing...100.2 (oops, didn't realize she was running a slight fever). Then they ran her through vision and hearing screening (she didn't pass her vision test the first time around with the crabby old nurse so a super sweet regular nurse brought us back again and had us stand at least 10 feet closer than we were the first time-apparently where we were supposed to stand the first time-it was a good thing too because after Brynn didn't pass her eye exam I thought I better make an appointment for both of us because I couldn't see the shapes either!). She passed her hearing in her right ear but not her left ear. Interesting. Then the doctor came in and checked her all out then asked me if Brynn has been complaining that her ear hurt because it was infected. Brynn is not at all a complainer (she jumped off a stool at Thanksgiving and ripped her toe nail off and said, "Ouch! I'm okay!") and seems to have a really high pain tolerance. She, too, was prescribed amoxicillian and sent on her way. Since I didn't plan on finding out Brynn had and ear infection I had no sub plans ready and I was already going to be walking in with the students. So...I ran home dosed Brynn up with Cara's amoxicillian (I didn't have time to pick Brynn's up) and ibuprofen and brought her to Lynn's letting her know to call if she felt Brynn needed me.

The saga continues...six days after each of the girls started the amoxicillian they both developed a mysterious rash. Cara's started Sunday evening. I called the nurse line thinking it could a reaction to the amoxicillian she assured me she thought it was a non-allergic reaction and that I should continue to give her the amoxicillian. Monday morning came, we got ready, had breakfast, dosed up with amoxicillian and headed to Lynn's. I had a meeting that morning so Darren dropped off forgetting to mention Cara's rash. I received a call from Lynn at 11:30 saying Cara has been crying on and off all morning and has an interesting looking rash. She assured me she was ready for a nap and could sleep there if I could pick her up after her nap (Thank you, Lynn! This time of year is really busy for me at work-almost every teacher panics when a student or two is not making the intended progress and now feels they need to be testing to see if they have a Learning Disability and that makes for A LOT of testing). She was miserable when I picked her up so I took her straight to the pediatrician and asked for an appointment. She had a 102.5 fever when we arrived too. Dr. Mary didn't feel like the rash was a typical allergic reaction rash but took her off the amoxcillian and started her on azithromax instead.

...and continues. Then on Tuesday Brynn started with the rash. Again, I am so busy at work that I really couldn't justify taking a day off for a rash so I sent her to Lynn's letting Lynn know that I would be calling the doctor and would let her know as soon as I found anything out. After talking with Lynn at 10:30 and her saying her rash didn't seem to be getting any worse then with the doctor it was agreed that she could be seen the following day...until Lynn called at 2:30 saying Brynn's rash was exploding fast and furious and was REALLY itchy and Cara's was looking really bad too. So, I left work early again and went straight to the doctor begging for an appointment. Luckily they were able to fit us in. It was then decided that Cara's rash looked more virusy and Brynn's looked like true hives cause by an allergic reaction. She, too, was taken off her amixicillian and put on azithromax. I was told that since neither of their reactions were life threatening that they most likely would be put on amoxicillian again when needed to see what reaction they would have and then a decision would be made as to whether it was a true reaction or not.

After several days their rashes subsided and they were back to themselves.

The pictures below were taken 3 days after Cara's rash started and the day Brynn's started. Brynn's doesn't look too bad in the photos, but it did get much much worse!

Whew! That was a long post!!