Double Ear Infection & Tonsillitis

Well you are probably thinking Emmitt right? It's not him…it's Parker! And this is our FIRST ever ear infection with him. He's 2 and a half! Needless to say I was shocked about the ear infections. His tonsils have been enlarged for a couple of weeks but Thursday afternoon I really started realizing something was wrong with him. I picked him up from Stephie's and she actually had to wake him up from his 3 hour nap. Well he of course was super crabby about that. Usually he wakes up happy, but not this time. 3 hours is on the long side for him, but not out of the ordinary. So I get the boys' stuff all packed up and Emmitt (sleeping) into the car seat and in the car and attempt to get Parker buckled in…NO WAY! He started a full blown tantrum. Well of course now Emmitt is awake and screaming. Parker refuses to get in his car seat without sheer force. He is arching his back and kicking me and I finally drag him out of the car and onto the yard for a timeout. Until he is ready to get in his seat and buckle up we are not leaving Stephie's. I should mention that Stephie lives on a very busy main street in town so I am sure loads of people saw me in my glory. Timeout is over, he agrees to get in his car seat (which was a lie) and we start battling all over again. I remind him that we buckle up to "be safe" and so the police don't take mommy away for not buckling up…I am starting to think they may take me away for freaking out at my kid though! Sure enough he finally gets in-it's been 20 minutes-and we drive down the road and what do we see? "a police cop!" says Parker…well that helped me out, I told him "see, the police cop was coming to check to make sure you and Emmitt and mommy were all buckled up"! So we continue on home and go to get out of the car seat and it starts all over again! He wanted to undo the buckle "all by myself"! Touchy, touchy… Emmitt needs to get out of the hot car and is not in the mood to sit outside while I bribe Parker with a popsicle. So I one arm Parker in the house while holding Emmitt (I am sure my neighbors think I am crazy). We get in the house and he is still freaking out! I just have to set an overtired Emmitt down at this point to deal with Parker. Another timeout on the wall this time for kicking me. I finally get him calmed down-it has been an hour and a half of tantrums. Well by this point it basically ended with grandma coming over and convincing Parker that a stroller ride in the fresh air would feel good. He wasn't too sure but got in. We walked our 4 mile loop by adding on to make the walk longer, Emmitt of course slept almost the whole time because he was sooooo tired. Parker was Mr. Chipper! Sang songs, looked around, waved at people. I swear sometimes I think he has a split personality. The walk starts getting long because he starts whining at the end, kicking off his shoes for mommy to pick up behind the stroller, etc…We get home and my mom helps me get the kids into the tub and I just ask her to take a look at Parker's tonsils, they were large the last time I checked and she gasped! Well that says enough…she tells me to take him in. So after the bath I decided that instead of waiting until morning I might as well do urgent care since it's the same price as a clinic visit and I'll get in asap. So it's 7 o'clock and I basically follow my friend, neighbor, and nurse Darci to work and of course she is working Triage so we get to see her. She does a throat culture, which I should say he did not gag at-but that my husband can't hardly think of one without gagging. So after the culture we wait for the doctor, which is maybe 10 minutes-just enough time to read the same alligator book 3 times...the doctor comes in and is wonderful with him…lets him look for monkeys in her ears and throat and then she does his. He's giggling with her and having a blast, looking very sick by the way, right!? So she takes a look in both ears and says, "double" but one is worse than the other. His culture for strep came back negative but the 24 hour one we'll have to wait on. Definitely tonsillitis. Gets him a steroid med and lets him take it orally, (the last time I was in the ER for this-Christmas Eve morning 2006-I got a shot in the ass!) and then 10 days of Amoxicillin. By 8 o'clock we are on our way home, already in our jammies and full of stickers! Parker was so good, but it helps that the doctor was awesome too (they even followed up on Saturday to see how he was feeling!). So basically the whole tantrum is explainable, I sort of feel bad about giving him so many timeouts for being sick but still. It is now Sunday night and he is on the mend. His tonsils are still huge so I am calling the clinic in the morning to see if we can get him in with our family doctor. He woke up crabby a few times this weekend from his naps but nothing like last Thursday. The other option the doctor gave us (Parker and I) was to have our tonsils out. Mine never really get "un"swollen and Parker is showing to have the same traits as I do…a crappy immune system! So we'll see how he responds to the meds. He thinks the best part, other than all the stickers, is the diet of popsicles!