earaches

This morning on the way home from running a few errands, Daniel said suddenly, "My ear hurts." Oh, what a frequent refrain this phrase has become: Mom, my ear hurts! He had one or two ear infections in the baby and toddler years, but this year for some reason they have been coming one on top of another. Today's diagnosis is his fifth since February, though the last one went away without antibiotics. We have an evaluation with his pediatrician next week, an appointment that was scheduled long ago, and one I was hoping would be the kind where the doc would look in his ears and pronounce them free and clear. I'm afraid, though, that this is just one too many and we'll have to schedule a procedure for Daniel to get tubes in his ears.

This upsets me. It's frustrating to see your kid get sick every three weeks. I know that getting the tubes is a simple, low-risk procedure and I should be more grateful that this particular problem is easy to fix. I'm still anxious, though, because I'm his mom and that's just how it goes when your own kid is suffering.

Today we couldn't get into urgent care until the late afternoon, and considering my kids were already cranky and sleep-deprived from staying up late to watch the fireworks last night (on top of Daniel not feeling well), it's a wonder we got out of there without more glaring from the other patients in the waiting room. Anya, not to be left out, whined that her ear hurt too, and when was it going to be her turn to sit on the table so the P.A. could look in her ear? (The P.A. was extremely kind and accommodating and looked in her ears, which were, of course, just fine.)

It's turning out to be a stressful week. Since the carpet was installed last Friday, we have been moving stuff downstairs and re-shuffling rooms, and while there is definite progress, everything is still really messy. We have 3 days to get everything ready before Stuart's parents arrive, and with a sick kid on top of it all, I'm not quite sure how it's all going to get done.