Saturday, February 12, 2011

Happiness Is...

Leaving the ENT office triumphantly yesterday, I felt happiness I haven't felt in a long time.

It had been a long week with M (9 mo) having ear pain again. He wasn't napping well, was writhing and screaming out through the nights, and I was at a loss as to how to help him. I didn't think my remedies were working and finally, on Thursday, B and I decided that I should call the ENT our pediatrician had referred us to and seek a pre-op consultation for tubes.

I'm not completely opposed to tubes. R had tubes. BUT, tubes are invasive and require anesthesia. They also cost money. And even though they allow drainage, they don't fix whatever it is that is causing the fluid to linger in the ear canal. However, I was desperate for the relief that tubes could bring for my baby (and me?). I made the appointment, but then immediately called my friend Jaime. Jaime is a living encyclopedia of natural remedies and supplements. On Thursday, she gave me a couple suggestions to try, because even if we did need to get tubes, there would still be several days and nights to survive and relief for M was critical.

So, we loaded everyone up and went to the health food store (again!). Once we were there, I realized I didn't have enough money to buy both the bromelain and elderberry that Jaime had recommended. BUT, I also realized that JuicePlus+ vineyard has elderberry in it and the orchard blend has bromelain (pineapple) and I committed there to giving M more orchard and starting the Vineyard for him. The naturopathic dr. at the health food store recommended another tincture, and it was less expensive, so I decided to try it.

Then, on Friday we had M's scheduled appointment. Loaded everyone up again, stopped at the library first, and waited at the ENT office with a bag of books. The kids were wonderfully quiet! The appointment was exceptionally brief- NO FLUID.

Amazing.

The ENT said that M's ears looked fine. He thought that if we could "hold off" on doing anything (i.e. tubes) for another month we would be through the winter and the fluid should go away on its own. That was his recommendation! And, just to be on the safe side, he thought we should use an antibiotic and a sulfa drug to keep infection at bay.

I couldn't help grinning. "Sir," I said. "I'll respectfully decline that prescription as it seems that what we are doing is working just fine."

Yay for good friends (#447) and health food stores (#448) and JuicePlus+ (#449)! Yay for waiora (#450)! Yay for a good night's sleep (#451)! Yay for probiotics (#452) and doctors who look for the cause of the problem (#453)! Yay for oils to calm the nervous system, to support the immune system, to kill bacteria (#454)! Yay for no tubes! Yay for a happy baby and a happy mommy.

So Happy.

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