Doctor Drama

JeepMan thinks I baby the kids too much. While it's true that I baby them much more than he, I don't think it's excessive. Maybe I overdo a little because he doesn't really do it at all. Making up for what it lacking, so to speak. I imagine many moms find themselves doing this.

Sunday The Boss was whiny. This is nothing new. At almost 3, it's just part of her age. Also she didn't get any mommy-time on Saturday since she, Plato, and JeepMan were at the in-laws while I was miserable on the couch all day with my Kleenex and the Lifetime Movie Network. Okay, the LMN thing isn't true (I can't usually watch those movies) but the rest is.

So back to whiny. The thing that caught my attention was that the whining was all universally themed: "My ear hurts, Mommy." It always came back to this, and it was always the same ear. Unfortunately 2 1/2 year olds don't have the capability to elaborate. Why, where, when, how...these are all foreign concepts to kids of this age. And so it went for most of the day. I got a flashlight, looked in both ears. The left one looked ok and the right looked...well, different. What I wouldn't have given for an otoscope (the ear-looker thingy that doctors use)! JeepMan was watching all this with mild irritation. "She was FINE yesterday. Now Mommy is around and she's getting lots of attention..." The accusation in his voice was less-than-subtle.

At the far opposite end of the spectrum, I was contemplating an ER visit (how is it that sick kids just seem to KNOW it's Sunday?). But the $50-$100 copay loomed large in my mind. Even larger the idea that I would have to answer to JeepMan when the ER doc told me things were fine. So I put it off. But the nagging Mommy in me just couldn't let go of the idea that something wasn't right. To top it off, when I was putting The Boss to bed, I decided to attempt a final interrogation:

"What's wrong with your ear?"

"It huwts!" (big tears)

"What happened to your ear?"

"I put a stick in there!"

"A WHAT?"

"I put a stick in there!"

"A stick? Where did you get the stick?"

"Because I did it!!"

"No...uh...okay, um, can you show mommy the stick?"

"Uh, huh..." (goes to the window and points) "Out dare..."

Ugh. Now I had to really think. Go to the ER on a Sunday night at 8pm on the word of a 2 1/2 year old, or wait? I waited.

It was a long night. The Boss waking every hour or so, crying about her ear. I finally brought her into my bed (JeepMan was already on the couch due to the racket). I never let the kids sleep with me unless we are in a hotel. I found out she punches in her sleep. Between dodging her left hook and the crying bouts, I did not sleep well.

In the morning I showed up at the clinic at 8am when they opened. I have never ever done this...I am fanatical about appointments. After I explained our story, the scheduler had the nerve to say, "Well, Mondays are busy...I will have to check and see if there are any available appointments..." I am sure that she did not appreciate the kind of peril she was in at that very moment. Or maybe she did because miraculously an 8:30 appointment became available. We waited.

Funny how kids suddenly become perfectly normal when in a doctor's waiting room. My whiny, lethargic, ear-hurting child metamorphosed into a bubbly toddler. My doubts resurged. Mind you, I really hoped everything was ok with her and I was just being a hypochondriac (displaced). Secretly, though, I was planning a big IN-YOUR-FACE speech if there actually was something wrong!!

Long story short, she DID have a perforated eardrum. There was no stick in there, though, so who knows about that part of the story. She had a ton of fluid behind her left eardrum, too, so spontaneous rupture was a viable theory. She's on antibiotics now and seems to be doing a little better.

And JeepMan DID get a (slightly modified) In-Your-Face speech.

Moral: Moms, listen to that little voice. Dads, listen to Moms.