Doctors Galore

Caleb turned two on March 1st, which was a Sunday. On the 3rd, I dutifully brought my child to the pediatrician for his well child check up. "He looks great! His weight and height are just where they need to be. He is walking and speaking well. Is he in daycare? (I nodded) Well, it is just remarkable at how healthy he has stayed." I walked out of the office very self-congratulatory. Look at me! I'm raising a healthy, developmentally on track child! If I could drink, I'd have beer to celebrate!!

There should have been warning bells, but instead, I continued to pat myself on the back.

Two weeks ago on Tuesday, I went to pick Caleb up from daycare and I walked in to find him crying and his mouth covered in blood. His teacher said "We were just about to call you!" Oh great. Nothing good comes from a call from daycare. I rushed over to him - well rushed as much as my seven month pregnant body allows me to rush, and saw that he had put his tooth through his lip.

I have had LOTS of first aid, lifeguard and wound care training, so the blood and clean up part didn't bother me, but the helpless look in his eyes, as in "Mommy, why aren't you making this pain go away?", was almost more than I could bear. After prompting from me, they found some ice for his lip and we headed home.

My dad was upstairs painting the nursery, and I called out to him multiple times because I wanted a second opinion on whether or not I should take him to the doctor. My dad will claim up and down that he is not losing his hearing, it is just that I mumble. I don't think shouting "Dad!!" up the stairs counts as mumbling, but somehow he still managed not to hear me. (Important note: I am limited on how many times a day I can go up and down the stairs, and I am definitely not supposed to carry a crying two year old up the stairs.) I finally called Scott, and we decided to call the pediatrician, who arranged for an appointment in 45 minutes. FINALLY, my dad heard me, I told him where were going and that I would call with the results.

The pediatrician was great. She said with where the injury was she wouldn't try to stitch it, or put skin glue on it, and just to let it heal. She sent us home with a tube of antibiotic cream and told us to call if we had any problems.

That Sunday, Caleb took an unusually long nap - almost four hours. When he woke up, he had a large mass behind his ear on the side that he had split his lip open. When I would try to touch it he would say "NO, broken." We called the pediatrician again, and she said to take him to the ER.

So, off we went to the ER. We waited for about an hour and a half (which wasn't bad for a Sunday evening). Caleb was NOT impressed with the hospital gown that he had to put on, but he did like washing his hands over and over again. The funniest part of the wait was trying to keep him quiet. Scott told him "Shhh. We have to be very quiet. We're hunting for rabbits!" Caleb then proceeded to tell everyone "Shhhh. Wabbits!"

The ER doc came in, looked at his neck, checked his ears, nose and throat and determined that the swollen lymph node (i.e. the mass) was a result of the healing process of his lip and the ear infection that he had developed on that side. She gave us some antibiotics and told us to follow up with our pediatrician if everything hadn't subsided in a week. Great. We went home, did what any good parent would do, and let him have ice cream for dinner.

One week later, I notice that Caleb still has some swelling on his neck, and where the mass had been soft before, it was now firm and nodular. Off we go to the pediatrician... again. "No, Mrs. Aikenhead, the ear infection has not cleared up, and now he has a sinus infection... I think. I am going to need to check his nose for foreign objects." (Note to other parents: If your child's nose is only draining on one side, this could indicate that they have a foreign body in there. Aren't you glad I learned that for you!??) Thankfully, no foreign objects, but now we are on a stronger antibiotic which can cause the runs. Good thing my boy loves his yogurt!

We have a follow up visit in two weeks, which blows my mind that in 6 weeks, we will have been to the doctor FIVE times. This really is a record for us.