Sick, Sick, and Sick Again

Caleb is sick. Again. I didn't even post about the last couple of times he was sick (he had some sort of stomach bug 3 weeks ago, then bronchitis 2 weeks ago) because it seems like all I do is write about how he's sick! I hope that this increase in illness is due to his first year in preschool, and that he'll get it all over with now and be healthier in the future.

One can hope.

He woke up in the middle of the night last night (of course--I have never known a child who got really sick during the day--it's always at night). Scott went in and checked on him, then came back to report a few minutes later that Caleb was "burning up." That's Mommy's signal to step in. I am the designated drug administer. I gave him some children's Tylenol and tried to get him to go back to bed, but he was coughing and couldn't sleep. So I ended up taking him to the living room and rocking him to sleep (something I haven't done in a long time!), then laying him on the couch and sleeping beside him on the floor.

Now, a couple of weeks ago we went into the doctor as a follow-up from his bronchitis, and the doctor was very concerned that his ear infection from March never really cleared up completely. She'd been keeping an eye on it and checking it every couple of weeks, and it still didn't look really good. So she referred us to an ENT (ear/nose/throat doctor). That appointment is scheduled for Friday.

So I really didn't want to take Caleb to his pediatrician today and then to the ENT tomorrow. I called his pedi and told her what was up, and she agreed that he should be okay until tomorrow. We'll see what happens. Caleb hasn't complained too much of ear pain with this illness--it's been more fever (102.2 was the highest I recorded), cough, runny nose, and headache. He laid on the floor today in the living room, mostly watching TV, from 8:00 until 5:30. Seriously. I finally got him to eat some pretzels and Annie's bunnies arond 4:00, and he didn't use the bathroom at all until 5:30. He went to sleep tonight at 7:00--about an hour early for him.

Let me just recap here, for my own sake and for the record, Caleb's illnesses over the last six months or so:

• 10/25/08--right ear infection
• 11/24/08--right ear infection
• 2/18/09--right ear infection
• 2/19/09--rotavirus
• 3/4/09--follow-up appointment from ear infection, right ear still doesn't look great
• 3/14/09--left ear drum burst (and outer ear infection), right ear still looks iffy
• 3/27/09--follow-up appointment from ear infection, right ear still looks "pulled back"
• 4/2/09--stomach bug
• 4/11/09--bronchitis
  
• 4/14/09--follow-up from bronchitis, right ear still looks pulled back, referred to ENT
• 4/30/09--Caleb complains of some left ear pain, headache, fever, chills, cough, runny nose

Phew.

On top of all of this, we had to take Caleb to a special kids' dentist because his normal dentist thought he might have cavities. He's been complaining that his upper molars hurt on both sides. Now I'm thinking that it's just pain from his sinuses, because the dentist gave him the all-clear yesterday. She did, however, say that he has an extreme overbite and will need some orthodontia in a few years. (As she told me this, I just visualized money flying out of my pockets. Better start another SmartyPig account for that!)

Pray with me that the ENT will be able to help my little boy tomorrow. I won't be surprised if Caleb has to have tubes in his ears or his adenoids removed. I hope the doc recommends some sort of allergy testing, too.