Advice needed, ASAP (kid = sick)

Alright, here's the scoop... It's 11:50pm over here. DS, 5yo, was earlier
complaining that his ear hurt, around 730-8pm.
He was even holding his ear and crying while we walked home from the store
(5 min max walk from home)
After telling him there's nothing I can do about it until we got home, hurry
up and we can get home and see about it, he has a bath, some cough syrup (he
does have a pretty yucky cough) and also some children's Tylenol, he went to
sleep. He wasn't crying about it, but he did say his ear hurt inside.
He had a fantastic ear infection about a month ago. He was given some
antibiotics for it (that time, it was 2am when I hauled him in the car to go
to the hospital out of the city due to it being a Friday night and city
hospitals with a wait time of hours and hours, out of city hospital had NO
wait at all) I left DD sleeping while DH was at home sleeping as well, and
off we went.
He took the medication as directed - 1tsp 3 times a day until finished.

Now, again this evening, it seems to be the same case. I'm assuming another
ear infection, and of course, it's almost midnight, AND it just happens to
be another Friday night - busy hospitals at midnight on Fridays...
The problem now is, I am home alone with the kids. It's midnight, and I
don't think I'm too keen on packing the sleeping kids up (and one who has
ear pain) at this hour to drive the highway half an hour out of the city.

I called my mom, who lives on the far opposite side of the city, and asking
her to come all the way here to stay with a sleeping baby at this hour is
stupid. She told me to put a hot face cloth in a plastic bag and get him to
sleep on that bag on his huring ear. He is back asleep now - actually, in
the time that it took me to walk downstairs, do a few things and check the
time on if I can give him some more Tylenol, I went back upstairs and he was
sleeping... I would assume this is a temporary fix, if anything...

Now I'm stuck on what to do. I tried calling BIL's, where DH is supposed to
be right now, but BIL said he's still waiting for DH to get there - expected
him around 8 or 9pm, and now it's midnight. DH did NOT show up at his
brother's house, yet disappearing is nothing new. Not gonna lie about that.
As is the case almost always, I am assuming alien abduction. At this point,
I'm hoping and praying for alien abduction complete with anal probe and
never returning him... Should I just hope that this hot face cloth in a bag
holds DS off until morning?? Should I just be prepared to be up every hour
or two when he wakes up crying his face off because his ear hurts? Should I
pack all the sleeping babies up to take him to the hospital if he wakes up
again or continues to wake up? I'm doubting someone's been in this
situation as feeling helpless and stranded, but what would you suggest?
Anything I could do at home?
Tomorrow morning, we have a wedding... I don't think taking a child with an
ear infection (or just a general pain that wakes him up at night crying) is
a wise idea, although this wedding for SIL is a family gathering... I also
would have to miss the wedding if I'm sitting around a hospital tomorrow
morning with this, or end up being dead tired come tomorrow...
Kind of in a jam here.. If I call the 24h health line, they'll just tell me
to take the kid to see a doctor... They really won't care about what
situation I'm in... What's the lesser of evil? Taking the kid in (and
waking the baby up to do so and carting her around the area) or not take him
in and pretty much let him deal with it...

Any ideas?? I'm so tired right now as it is... And tomorrow, no matter what
now, will be a very long day...

Kathryn wrote:
Alright, here's the scoop... It's 11:50pm over here. DS, 5yo, was earlier
complaining that his ear hurt, around 730-8pm.
He was even holding his ear and crying while we walked home from the store
(5 min max walk from home)
Any ideas?? I'm so tired right now as it is... And tomorrow, no matter what
now, will be a very long day...

You have my absolute sympathy. If I were you, I would hope for the best
with not taking him in....dose him up with Tylenol if he wakes up and
do the hot cloth thing, maybe sleep in his room with him so you can get
to him as quick as you can. Then get up early to take him to the
hospital if it's still painful so you can take care of that before your
wedding committment. I hope that all goes as well as it possibly can,
it's so hard to be stuck in these sorts of situations.

Stasya

Ohh I sympathise too. My DD2 has had an ear infection for 4 weeks now and
the antibiotics are slowly starting to work. I think if DS is sleeping then
leave him, dose him with Pamol/Tynol every 4 hours and tomorrow or Sunday if
he shows no sign of improvement then take him in. The last time I rushed
DD2 over to our nearest A&E (it was a Sunday so here in NZ we have to do
this) and the doctor there said that they are starting to encourage people
to wait 3 days with a suspected ear infection because more and more often it
seems they can sort themselves out. For me personally I tend to take my
children in because they have temps of 39 or 40 that I cannot lower, and not
so much because they have sore ears. Obviously I don't want them to be in
pain and I want to treat the infection but temperature tends to be first on
the list for me. If they are still miserable after a day or so then I take
them back in.

Take care

--
Pip

My girls :
DD1 Jasmine - 5 weeks early - 21 March 02 -
"I'm a big girl cause I go to school kindy"

DD2 Abby - 8 weeks early - 3 Feb 05 -
Took her first steps on her 1st Birthday.

"Yes you can drive me insane just by talking to me!"


--
"Kathryn" wrote in message
news:fA4ng.88712$771.20898@edtnps89...
Alright, here's the scoop... It's 11:50pm over here. DS, 5yo, was earlier
complaining that his ear hurt, around 730-8pm.
He was even holding his ear and crying while we walked home from the store
(5 min max walk from home)
After telling him there's nothing I can do about it until we got home,
hurry up and we can get home and see about it, he has a bath, some cough
syrup (he does have a pretty yucky cough) and also some children's
Tylenol, he went to sleep. He wasn't crying about it, but he did say his
ear hurt inside.
He had a fantastic ear infection about a month ago. He was given some
antibiotics for it (that time, it was 2am when I hauled him in the car to
go to the hospital out of the city due to it being a Friday night and city
hospitals with a wait time of hours and hours, out of city hospital had NO
wait at all) I left DD sleeping while DH was at home sleeping as well,
and off we went.
He took the medication as directed - 1tsp 3 times a day until finished.

Now, again this evening, it seems to be the same case. I'm assuming
another ear infection, and of course, it's almost midnight, AND it just
happens to be another Friday night - busy hospitals at midnight on
Fridays...
The problem now is, I am home alone with the kids. It's midnight, and I
don't think I'm too keen on packing the sleeping kids up (and one who has
ear pain) at this hour to drive the highway half an hour out of the city.

I called my mom, who lives on the far opposite side of the city, and
asking her to come all the way here to stay with a sleeping baby at this
hour is stupid. She told me to put a hot face cloth in a plastic bag and
get him to sleep on that bag on his huring ear. He is back asleep now -
actually, in the time that it took me to walk downstairs, do a few things
and check the time on if I can give him some more Tylenol, I went back
upstairs and he was sleeping... I would assume this is a temporary fix, if
anything...

Now I'm stuck on what to do. I tried calling BIL's, where DH is supposed
to be right now, but BIL said he's still waiting for DH to get there -
expected him around 8 or 9pm, and now it's midnight. DH did NOT show up
at his brother's house, yet disappearing is nothing new. Not gonna lie
about that. As is the case almost always, I am assuming alien abduction.
At this point, I'm hoping and praying for alien abduction complete with
anal probe and never returning him... Should I just hope that this hot
face cloth in a bag holds DS off until morning?? Should I just be
prepared to be up every hour or two when he wakes up crying his face off
because his ear hurts? Should I pack all the sleeping babies up to take
him to the hospital if he wakes up again or continues to wake up? I'm
doubting someone's been in this situation as feeling helpless and
stranded, but what would you suggest? Anything I could do at home?
Tomorrow morning, we have a wedding... I don't think taking a child with
an ear infection (or just a general pain that wakes him up at night
crying) is a wise idea, although this wedding for SIL is a family
gathering... I also would have to miss the wedding if I'm sitting around a
hospital tomorrow morning with this, or end up being dead tired come
tomorrow...
Kind of in a jam here.. If I call the 24h health line, they'll just tell
me to take the kid to see a doctor... They really won't care about what
situation I'm in... What's the lesser of evil? Taking the kid in (and
waking the baby up to do so and carting her around the area) or not take
him in and pretty much let him deal with it...

Any ideas?? I'm so tired right now as it is... And tomorrow, no matter
what now, will be a very long day...

Kathryn wrote:
Alright, here's the scoop... It's 11:50pm over here. DS, 5yo, was earlier
complaining that his ear hurt, around 730-8pm.

Dose him with motrin and a decongestant so that the eustachian tube can
drain. Take him to a clinic in the morning. Screw the wedding -
alleviating his suffering and saving his hearing is more important.

-L.

I agree. I would also suggest that if he has had frequent ear
infections that you consider taking him to a specialist. My son wound
up with hearing loss (fortunately it was corrected when he had tubes
placed in his ears for drainage - had adnoids removed at same time).
Also, I have found that Ibuprofen/Motrin/Advil works better (stronger
pain/fever relief for a longer period of time) than Tylenol on ear pain
and on fever. Let us know how he is.

T

L. wrote:
Screw the wedding - alleviating his suffering and saving his hearing is
more important.

-L.

"Me Myself and I" wrote in message
news:1151138712.590328@ftpsrv1...
Ohh I sympathise too. My DD2 has had an ear infection for 4 weeks now and
the antibiotics are slowly starting to work. I think if DS is sleeping
then
leave him, dose him with Pamol/Tynol every 4 hours and tomorrow or Sunday
if
he shows no sign of improvement then take him in. The last time I rushed
DD2 over to our nearest A&E (it was a Sunday so here in NZ we have to do
this) and the doctor there said that they are starting to encourage people
to wait 3 days with a suspected ear infection because more and more often
it
seems they can sort themselves out. For me personally I tend to take my
children in because they have temps of 39 or 40 that I cannot lower, and
not
so much because they have sore ears. Obviously I don't want them to be in
pain and I want to treat the infection but temperature tends to be first
on
the list for me. If they are still miserable after a day or so then I
take
them back in.

Take care

--
Pip

My girls :
DD1 Jasmine - 5 weeks early - 21 March 02 -
"I'm a big girl cause I go to school kindy"

DD2 Abby - 8 weeks early - 3 Feb 05 -
Took her first steps on her 1st Birthday.

"Yes you can drive me insane just by talking to me!"


Hope the OP can sort this one out but I would forget the wedding and
concentrate on the sick kid. However, in regard to waiting 3 days to see if
it would go away by itself, the one time I did this for DS1 who suffered
from frequent infections, he ended up in extreme pain with some blood coming
from the ear. To see him scream in pain like that was heart wrenching and he
only got some sleep after the eardrum ruptured and relieved the pressure. I
only decided to wait after reading this information also and having
experienced little sympathy from the hospital A&E staff in the past because
none of our local doctors work after hours or on weekends, I figured it
would be ok to wait until Monday morning when I could see our own doctor.
Bad idea in this particular case although each one is different - he did
have other infections which were handled ok with Panadol and we would manage
to cope until our own doctor was available. Thank God, he has grown out of
ear infections because they are no fun for anyone.

Good luck to the OP - hope you manage all right. Back to lurking :-)

cheers
Leah
(lurker and Mum to two boys 9 and 4)

"L." wrote in message
ups.com...

Kathryn wrote:
Alright, here's the scoop... It's 11:50pm over here. DS, 5yo, was
earlier
complaining that his ear hurt, around 730-8pm.

Dose him with motrin and a decongestant so that the eustachian tube can
drain. Take him to a clinic in the morning. Screw the wedding -
alleviating his suffering and saving his hearing is more important.

If he is feeling well before the wedding, I would take him. But explain the
situation to the hosts and family members. If he starts to hurt, say goodbye
and leave.

Jeff

-L.

Kathryn wrote:
Alright, here's the scoop... It's 11:50pm over here. DS, 5yo, was earlier
complaining that his ear hurt, around 730-8pm.
He was even holding his ear and crying while we walked home from the store
(5 min max walk from home)
After telling him there's nothing I can do about it until we got home, hurry
up and we can get home and see about it, he has a bath, some cough syrup (he
does have a pretty yucky cough) and also some children's Tylenol, he went to
sleep. He wasn't crying about it, but he did say his ear hurt inside.
He had a fantastic ear infection about a month ago. He was given some
antibiotics for it (that time, it was 2am when I hauled him in the car to go
to the hospital out of the city due to it being a Friday night and city
hospitals with a wait time of hours and hours, out of city hospital had NO
wait at all) I left DD sleeping while DH was at home sleeping as well, and
off we went.
He took the medication as directed - 1tsp 3 times a day until finished.

Now, again this evening, it seems to be the same case. I'm assuming another
ear infection, and of course, it's almost midnight, AND it just happens to
be another Friday night - busy hospitals at midnight on Fridays...
The problem now is, I am home alone with the kids. It's midnight, and I
don't think I'm too keen on packing the sleeping kids up (and one who has
ear pain) at this hour to drive the highway half an hour out of the city.

This won't help now, but if he is prone to this
sort of thing, you might ask the doctor for analgesic
ear drops to have on hand. That plus some Motrin or Tylenol
will usually get you through the night.

Best wishes,
Ericka

On Sat, 24 Jun 2006 09:38:46 -0400, Ericka Kammerer
wrote:

This won't help now, but if he is prone to this
sort of thing, you might ask the doctor for analgesic
ear drops to have on hand. That plus some Motrin or Tylenol
will usually get you through the night.

I heartily second this recommendation. My ds was prone to earaches at
nighttime. Having the ear drops on hand saved my sanity.

Nan

"Nan" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 24 Jun 2006 09:38:46 -0400, Ericka Kammerer
wrote:

This won't help now, but if he is prone to this
sort of thing, you might ask the doctor for analgesic
ear drops to have on hand. That plus some Motrin or Tylenol
will usually get you through the night.

I heartily second this recommendation. My ds was prone to earaches at
nighttime. Having the ear drops on hand saved my sanity.

In some countries they don't even give antibiotics. The infections usually
get better on their own. There is a slight dnager that the infection will
spread to the bone or even brain. Both are to be avoided, however.

Jeff

Nan