Poor Brittany and her Ear Infections

Brittany was always my healthy child. The only time she ever got "sick" was when she got an ear infection. By the time she was about 9 months, I think she had about 10 ear infections. We moved to Utah when she was 10 months old, and she got a bad ear infection right after we got here. 

Our insurance was still from Las Vegas, and there were not any providers here in Utah :(

We had to pay cash to have her seen 3 times in the first month we were here. All for ear infections!

We went in a few more times over the next couple of months until finally we got insurance in UT. We got our insurance right after Brittany's first birthday. 

I took her to the doctor for her 1 year check up..... Guess what he discovered?!? Brittany had an ear infection (she had been on antibiotics 6-7 times in the 3 months prior). He said he was pretty sure she hadn't had been getting multiple ear infection. He thought it was more likely that she had a continuous one that had never cleared up. He put her on a continuous course of antibiotics for a solid month. He tried 3-4 different kinds of medicines during this time, and with each return visit, she still had a horrible infection. He decided to try adult strength medicine.... After 1-2 weeks no improvement. Then we had to do shots of adult strength antibiotics for 2 weeks.

We got an appointment to see an ENT. They got us in right away because they were pretty concerned. They did a hearing test, and she was legally deaf. They determined she would need tubes. The only problem is that they couldn't put tubes in until the infection had cleared up some..... After 2 weeks of taking Brittany to get a shot of antibiotics everyday, she was able to get her tubes in. She got them in at 14 months October 5, 2007. She started walking the very next day.... It's amazing what a little equilibrium can do :)

Well that lasted a few months, but then she started getting ear infections again. She is 5 now, and she has had about 30 ear infections since getting her tubes put in.

That brings us to now. Last week, the day after her 5th birthday, Brittany woke up screaming in pain. She said her ear hurt so bad and the pain would not stop. I pick up her hair only to see puss and blood just oozing out of her left ear. It was HORRIBLE!! She has had drainage before. She has ruptured her ear drums before, but nothing looked like this :(

We took her to the doctor right away. He confirmed that she had an infection. He said it was sooo bad that she had probably had the infection for over 2 weeks :( She never mentioned any pain. She had waited until the pain had gotten unbearable. The doctor told us to give Tylenol and Motrin every 2 hours (alternating). He said she would need it to be constant to keep the level of pain down. He was right except it didn't help. She screaming constantly through the entire night no matter what I tried. She started running a fever (which she never does), and she was in so much pain she was sick to her stomach. I called the doctor back the next day to tell them the level of pain she was in. They prescribed her some numbing drops. They did not help. We were up another night with her screaming out in pain. On the 3rd day, I took her back to the doctor again. They saw no improvement in her ears.... They put her on a stronger antibiotic, antibiotic ear drops, and lortab to help control the pain. I only gave her a half dose of  the lortab. She was finally able to get a little sleep because she wasn't in as much pain.

It has been almost a week, and she has cried in pain every day and every night. Sadly, that is not the worst part.... She has never passed a hearing test, and this infection seems to be affecting her hearing. Please pray with me that her hearing returns to normal soon. Right now, I have to yell at the top of my lungs to get her attention :( I hope this isn't permanent.

She has another appointment tomorrow.... We shall see what they say then.