October was not one of Sadie's best months. She was cranky, cranky and a little bit more cranky. Her ear would not stop draining. Have I ever told you just how much I hate these tubes in her ears. She got this set of tubes in April. May was a good month for her ears, but then the middle of June she got an ear infection (right before her heart surgery), a couple weeks after her heart surgery (still in July) she got another one. Then again in August, September and in October. Really? I thought tubes were supposed to stop ear infections? Nope, not these ones. These where causing ear infections. It was getting pretty old.
Then on top of that she had this cough, sneezing, extreme amount of drool that she was choking on and random fever thing going on. But the cold wouldn't just come, stay, do its thing and go away. No, it would come for a day or two and then get better. Come again for another few days and then leave. This went on the entire month of October. It was getting really old. She was cranky, cranky and a little bit more cranky.
And then on top of the ears and on top of the cough/cold thing she had going on, Sadie also had gut issues. These gut issues had been going on for months (started in April), but progressively getting worse and causing really big issues. She would be either really constipated or have extreme diarrhea, color was always different, smell would vary. I know this is TMI, however, you need to see the whole picture. This does not make any sense. She gets the same formula, same amount of water, same amount of food, at pretty much the same time every day. Nothing ever changes. Her bowels/stool should not change. Her bowels use to be perfect: same time, color, consistency, daily. So what happened? Her gut was making her cranky, and more cranky, and then a little bit more cranky.
She missed multiple days of school because she was just so cranky. When I would send her, her teacher would either call me or send a note home saying that she was cranky and screamed the whole time or would sleep the whole time. This was a causing mommy to be cranky. Why? Because baby wasn't sleeping, baby wasn't going to school, baby was always going to the Dr, baby didn't want to messed with, baby was CRANKY!! This was not my baby. Sadie, just like every other human being on the face of this earth, has had her moments when she just wasn't feeling it, wanted to be left alone, and has just had a cranky DAY. She is human. But this was different. It was a day after night after day after night of pure crankiness! I think I may have lost my mind for part of the month because thinking back now I don't really remember much of it. But I know that it was a terrible month. Finally, I had had it! I called some Dr's and begged for help. Don't get me wrong I had been talking to Dr's all month and they just kept telling me "try this, try that, it'll pass". Ok, well it wasn't passing. Time for new interventions that were going to work. If they didn't work, poop may hit the fan!
Dr #1 ENT. Obviously he is dealing with her draining ears. He looks in them, "well I don't think they are healing from the ear infections, we should probably take the tubes out". No s*%t Sherlock. I have been telling him this the past couple of MONTHS. He took them out, within a day they stopped draining. Amazing how that worked. Dumb!
Dr #2 Special needs/dietitian Dr. They are dealing with her gut issue. Do we change her formula, add more water, start her on a blended food diet, start her on a motility drug, do some testing? What happened to her gut? Why the change? We started going over everything that has happened since her gut issues really started to become a problem. Antibiotics. They seem to be a common theme: tonsils out, ear infection, heart surgery, more ear infections. All had antibiotics. Antibiotics change the bacteria count in your gut causing all sorts of issues. So we are going to treat her with probiotics for a month and see if that fixes her problems. After a couple of days we still don't have a bowel movement, however, the pain has stopped. She's not screaming, holding her legs up, rolling side to side in pain. So something must be working! Right?
Dr #3 Pediatrician. Ok, she has got to help with this random cough/cold/fever thing that has been off and on all month. She examines, listens to all the shenanigans of the month, doesn't really know what to think without putting her through a battery of tests. We decided that instead of x rays, cultures, blood work, and whatever else she was thinking of doing we would start her on an antibiotic. One that would cover ear infections, pneumonia, strep throat, and something else that I can't think of right now. But if one of those things were bothering her, or anything else that we hadn't thought of, this antibiotic was gong to take care of it. It wasn't going to help with the gut/bacteria issue, however, she was still going to be on the probiotics so hopefully that will counteract enough to move her into a positive direction. I REALLY needed my happy, easy going little girl back. Again it's only been a couple of days but it seems to be helping something.
Fingers crossed now that things keep moving in a positive direction.
***Update: It has been a couple of weeks and life is back to wonderful again with her. Whatever was ailing her, seems to be gone. Not sure which one was the huge issue or if it was a combo of everything. But it's gone. We continue the probiotics because we need to use them for a month, but they seem to be working on the bowel movement issue. HALLELUJAH!! She is sleeping again through the night, the rolling in pain is gone and the CRANKINESS is gone. Life is good!
Then on top of that she had this cough, sneezing, extreme amount of drool that she was choking on and random fever thing going on. But the cold wouldn't just come, stay, do its thing and go away. No, it would come for a day or two and then get better. Come again for another few days and then leave. This went on the entire month of October. It was getting really old. She was cranky, cranky and a little bit more cranky.
And then on top of the ears and on top of the cough/cold thing she had going on, Sadie also had gut issues. These gut issues had been going on for months (started in April), but progressively getting worse and causing really big issues. She would be either really constipated or have extreme diarrhea, color was always different, smell would vary. I know this is TMI, however, you need to see the whole picture. This does not make any sense. She gets the same formula, same amount of water, same amount of food, at pretty much the same time every day. Nothing ever changes. Her bowels/stool should not change. Her bowels use to be perfect: same time, color, consistency, daily. So what happened? Her gut was making her cranky, and more cranky, and then a little bit more cranky.
She missed multiple days of school because she was just so cranky. When I would send her, her teacher would either call me or send a note home saying that she was cranky and screamed the whole time or would sleep the whole time. This was a causing mommy to be cranky. Why? Because baby wasn't sleeping, baby wasn't going to school, baby was always going to the Dr, baby didn't want to messed with, baby was CRANKY!! This was not my baby. Sadie, just like every other human being on the face of this earth, has had her moments when she just wasn't feeling it, wanted to be left alone, and has just had a cranky DAY. She is human. But this was different. It was a day after night after day after night of pure crankiness! I think I may have lost my mind for part of the month because thinking back now I don't really remember much of it. But I know that it was a terrible month. Finally, I had had it! I called some Dr's and begged for help. Don't get me wrong I had been talking to Dr's all month and they just kept telling me "try this, try that, it'll pass". Ok, well it wasn't passing. Time for new interventions that were going to work. If they didn't work, poop may hit the fan!
Dr #1 ENT. Obviously he is dealing with her draining ears. He looks in them, "well I don't think they are healing from the ear infections, we should probably take the tubes out". No s*%t Sherlock. I have been telling him this the past couple of MONTHS. He took them out, within a day they stopped draining. Amazing how that worked. Dumb!
Dr #2 Special needs/dietitian Dr. They are dealing with her gut issue. Do we change her formula, add more water, start her on a blended food diet, start her on a motility drug, do some testing? What happened to her gut? Why the change? We started going over everything that has happened since her gut issues really started to become a problem. Antibiotics. They seem to be a common theme: tonsils out, ear infection, heart surgery, more ear infections. All had antibiotics. Antibiotics change the bacteria count in your gut causing all sorts of issues. So we are going to treat her with probiotics for a month and see if that fixes her problems. After a couple of days we still don't have a bowel movement, however, the pain has stopped. She's not screaming, holding her legs up, rolling side to side in pain. So something must be working! Right?
Dr #3 Pediatrician. Ok, she has got to help with this random cough/cold/fever thing that has been off and on all month. She examines, listens to all the shenanigans of the month, doesn't really know what to think without putting her through a battery of tests. We decided that instead of x rays, cultures, blood work, and whatever else she was thinking of doing we would start her on an antibiotic. One that would cover ear infections, pneumonia, strep throat, and something else that I can't think of right now. But if one of those things were bothering her, or anything else that we hadn't thought of, this antibiotic was gong to take care of it. It wasn't going to help with the gut/bacteria issue, however, she was still going to be on the probiotics so hopefully that will counteract enough to move her into a positive direction. I REALLY needed my happy, easy going little girl back. Again it's only been a couple of days but it seems to be helping something.
Fingers crossed now that things keep moving in a positive direction.
***Update: It has been a couple of weeks and life is back to wonderful again with her. Whatever was ailing her, seems to be gone. Not sure which one was the huge issue or if it was a combo of everything. But it's gone. We continue the probiotics because we need to use them for a month, but they seem to be working on the bowel movement issue. HALLELUJAH!! She is sleeping again through the night, the rolling in pain is gone and the CRANKINESS is gone. Life is good!
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