I had to pick Phoebe up from school today because she was complaining of ear pain in the nurses office. By the time I got to the school I had already made a doctors appointment with the pediatrician. As I pulled into the school I had no idea that her ear pain was only one of the issues we would be facing by the end of the day and that waiting two hours to get into the pediatrician wasn't going to be an option.
In the drive from her school to our home, Phoebe's temperature had spiked from 99.4 to over 101 and she began to scream and cry in pain. With the pediatrician's office closed for lunch and her appointment a few hours away, the ER was the quickest way we could get her seen and out of pain. Unfortunately, as with a lot of the times we are seen in the hospital, the doctors and nurses were not sure how to handle Phoebe's care with her multitude of symptoms and undiagnosed status. They suspected that she had an ear infection but Phoebe's ear canals are smaller than they should be and they did have a good amount of wax in them. Which made it very difficult for them to tell. The doctor did attempt to clean Phoebe's ears out, but was hesitant to do much since she was so unfamiliar with the extensive history Phoebe has and didn't want to cause any more pain or any further issues. The ER was able to ease her pain and help bring down her temperature but insisted we follow up with her pediatrician to be extra thorough and see if there is anything they missed.
We were able to see the pediatrician later in evening, a few hours after what would have been our appointment time and they, being very familiar with Phoebe's anatomy and what to watch for, were able to diagnose the ear infection that was causing so much pain. During the physical assessment they also heard diminished lung sounds in the right lobe and discharge starting to be evident in her right eye. Their prescribed course of treatment.....antibiotics for the ear infection, eye drops for the discharge and albuterol nebulizer treatments, as preventive measures, for the diminished lung sounds.
If today shows anything about Phoebe, it's that she can wake up one way and within a short amount of time spiral downhill quickly. Symptoms are not always present all at once, often times appearing one right after another and very quickly. It's why we are so cautious with her, especially in the cold and flu season.