We picked the Leatherkids up at school just after 6pm yesterday. Same drill -- we entered the building together, I headed directly to Ella's empty classroom to get her backpack and Dan headed directly to the one room in the front where the remaining kids were congregated to see the rest of the day out. As I headed back down the hallway from Ella's classroom, I saw Dan emerge from the front classroom playfully holding Ella over his shoulder. She was laughing, and he was calling for Cal who had started down the other hallway to find me.
The Leatherkids -- and Leatherdaddy -- were in good spirits. Dan put Ella down so she could walk out the door and to the car herself, and she actually did so without complaint... well, without complaint about having to walk to the car on her own two legs. Her feet had barely hit the floor of the entryway (exitway?) to the school when she said this in her whiny Ella way:
"My hear hurts," and she held her hand to her left ear as she said it.
Oh, no. We got in the car and headed the few blocks home. I was barely inside the door and already calling our pediatrician's office, intending on getting her in to see a doctor that evening. They close at 8pm. I talked to the receptionist who took our information and told me a nurse would call me back shortly, which she did.
Any other symptoms? Yes, a cough for a few weeks. Anything else? No. No fever? No. Runny nose, right? No (I even put my finger on her upper lip hoping there'd be some sign of mucus, but none. How long has her ear hurt? Today (a white lie).
The nurse recommended waiting it out. We could give her Tylenol for pain. We could try a cold compress on Ella's ear for 20 minutes (yeah, right -- has she ever held a cold compress on a young child for longer than 3 minutes?). She then asked me if I was comfortable with that, and I don't even remember how I answered it other than being really wishy-washy and not completely sold on the approach.
"Otherwise, the only thing we have is a 7:35, which she'll probably be really tired by then," she told me.
I looked at Dan and asked him if we should take it (as if I really was asking him because I knew we'd be taking it); and he was fully on board with taking our "tired" kid to that "late" appointment. I told the nurse that we'd be there.
Dan and I both knew that Ella had an ear infection. Heck, Ella knew it. She's a real pansy about a lot of stuff -- her legs always hurt or are tired, she needs a band-aid for a boo-boo on her finger not seeable by the naked eye but one that really hurts, she doubles over in pain anytime Cal brushes up against her -- but when it comes to her ears, she's always spot on and never misleads us.
Ear infections are how colds manifest themselves in Ella. And as if we needed any backup, she'd been coughing for a few weeks -- of course she had an ear infection!
So Ella and I were at the pediatrician's office in time for our 7:35 appt. It might have been only 7:43 and we were leaving the building with a plan to head to Walgreens to pick up her antibiotic to battle her ear infection, confirmed by our pediatrician to be just that.
She got her first dose of the antibiotic last night and second one this morning before heading to school. As we got ready for work this morning, Ella spent some time in mine and Dan's bathroom with us. "I'm going to tell Ms. Tewana that I'm taking medicine."
Dan and I both immediately responded that she didn't need to do that, that she could just keep it to herself. I don't think we're breaking any rules sending her to school with an ear infection but no fever, but better to be safe than sorry. I'm sure by now (8:13am), she's already told Ms. Tewana about it. Oh, well, I'm just happy we got some antibiotics for it so no one -- Ella, Daddy, Cal, me... even our cat, Zoe -- have to suffer.
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