I'm done

I have to apologize.  I'm done thinking I can post on here at any time.  That despite not having pictures to share with you that I will still post something.  I don't.  My bad.

Taite got out of the hospital yesterday morning.  He was in for 2 nights.  Wednesday night he started having ear pain again and wouldn't you know it, at around 6 or 7, it burst.  Again.  For those of you keeping track, it's about the second time in about as many weeks.  Maybe you could add a week to that, but it was still too soon.  Taite instantly started crying.  He was so sure we were done with the pain and we were not.  With our friend's help, we were seen by a different ENT at the local clinic and when he heard we'd been dealing with this roller coaster of pain/ear/congestion, he was all for putting Taite in the hospital so they could administer antibiotics.  As the nurse said, there is nothing like intravenous antibiotics.  I had never thought about it before, but when taking the antibiotics orally, you have to have them be processed by the stomach first, so it would be obvious that they don't work as instantly as you would hope them to.  Anywho. . . the nurse also said that the Dr had prescribed a very strong adult dose of these antibiotics for Taite and she had to explain in the system why they were giving him so much.  It's probably a direct result of the Dr. looking at Taite's adenoid.  He said it was huge and all pussy.  YUCK, but not what we are alien to hearing in the more recent weeks.  Also, his left ear was "angry".  After explaining the possible problems associated with this, I started to worry.  Mastoiditis goes with ear infection.  Severe mastoiditis can lead to meningitis.  I did not know this.  Taite has a very bad case of mastoiditis.  We are very watchful for a headache or any ear pain.  With that, we are to rush him to the ER, call the ENT and will probably have to head to Omaha for surgery.  That is worst case and we are hoping and praying, not our case.  It's the fear of this that has me contemplating sleeping in Taite's room on a cot.  I don't want him not to be able to come to our bedroom in case he has a headache or ear pain.  I don't want to think of the results of that pain. 

I think the Dr's here think we are crazy when we say that our kids aren't normally sick.  They aren't!  They can think what they will, but just help him get better.  This "new" ENT Doc is going to do that.  As soon as we can get it scheduled, Taite is having his adenoid & tonsils removed and a tube put into his left ear.  The thought behind this action is this:  The adenoid is so enlarged, the Eustachian tubes are not allowed to drain correctly and the Strep pneumococal...??  has been hindered while taking antibiotics, but not stopped completely, so after the antibiotics wear off, it starts growing again.  We now know we are battling the strep pneumococal?? virus since that is what was the result of culturing the drainage of Taite's ear.  Did I mention that after his ear drum burst, it would run out, literally, like the tears running down his face?  Constantly.  The draining has slowed considerably, but is still an issue and we have to have a box of Kleenexes accessible at all times.

Tomorrow is the day.  We have to talk to the school.  With what we've dealt with already, Taite has missed a lot of school.  After the surgery, he will miss a lot more.  Until the surgery, he cannot have any activity.  No basketball.  No PE.  No physical activity for 2 weeks.  I assume that since he gets straight A's this surgery won't be a problem, but we want to make sure the school is on board with this.  Well, let me re-phrase that. . . we want them to know our plan.  Even if they weren't "on board" we would still go ahead with the surgery and would deal with the school later.  The plan up until the surgery?  Keep a close eye on Taite because even though they pumped him full of anti-biotics, it doesn't mean we are in the clear yet.  I won't be able to relax until we are free and clear of mastoiditis.  That is our enemy right now. 

This was the weekend we had the tickets for every state tournament game being played in Sioux Falls.  We had a hotel room at the water park hotel in Sioux Falls for Friday night.  Taite was devastated, Bray was disappointed.  Thanks to our great friends Jeremy, Talli, Mike & Amy who took Bray up with them and took him to the game and hotel on Friday night so we could spend it in Taite's hospital room watching the live broadcast of the game on our phones.  Bray got to experience everything even though we weren't there as a family.  Yesterday when Taite was discharged though, Chris asked the Dr if we could go to the game and he said "Yeah, cheer on DV" (Dakota Valley ~ he has kids that go there too and one is even a 7th grader, so just  year older than Taite).  Cheering on the team to a disappointing loss was about all that Taite had in him.  When the game was over, his cheeks were very red and in our boys that means "tired".  It can be their cheeks or their ears, but red = severe tiredness.  Thankfully I had packed pillows so they could sleep on the way home from the game.  Thank the Lord for good doctors and even better friends!