The Trooper
This post will soon contian some great holiday photos from our Thanksgiving outing to see the Johnson/Kunze side of the family. As awesome as it was to see them and share some turkey and conversation, the overall trip could have gone much better than it did.
The Sunday evening prior to Thanksgiving it started with yet another ear infection, just days after coming off of antibiotics for the previous one. This was the first time we had ever heard Ian howl in pain as if his head were on fire; a never ending, ever-questioning cry. You could read it in his face: “Why is this happening to me?” A Monday doctor’s appointment revealed that things were as bad or worse than before, and the doctor recommended an ear/nose/throat specialist… an appointment was made for three weeks later, around December 11th.
We thought that the night of pain would be singular, but Monday night wasn’t much different. At least the NEWLY prescribed round of antibiotics would help, eventually right? Well, it helped him get diarrhea, which is pretty “par the course” for this type of treatment. The antibiotics kill off the good bacteria/cultures in his stomach, and blammo. What we didn’t know, as we packed him into the car for the unusually long 8.5 hour drive to Ohio on Wednesday, was that a one-time vomit incident would turn into an ongoing trend over the next several nights.
It is shocking how happy he can still be during the day, when he’s not getting sick in the middle of the night. We’ve got some great pictures of those smiles. But I think the moment that will stick with me the most for this trip was when Ian sucked in a breath of air right after getting sick a few times in a row, looked up at the bathroom nightlight and smiled wearily and said “dight!” (light) A moment later we had him in the tub because this particular night he really was an awful mess and as he neared the tub he spotted a rubber yellow duck toy and as plain as day announced “Ducky!” Think of what this kid must be feeling, but still he tried to talk to us… What a trooper!
We went to the doctor’s again on Sunday after coming home early from the trip. The diagnosis was what I wrote above, that the antibiotics were hurting him, not helping him. Even worse, it is now Monday night after Thanksgiving, and Ian has developed a great deal of the symptoms for the “Croup” which he had shown no signs of during either of the aforementioned doctor’s appointments. Should we go to the doctor again tomorrow? What a week!
Pics to be added to this post when I have time. (It’ll be awhile, sorry.)
