Jack's Trip to Urgent Care

I hope this post doesn't end up being super duper long.

On Monday when I picked Jack up from childcare, Karen mentioned that he didn't seem like himself and only wanted to be held all day. He hadn't eaten a whole lot and only was interested in milk. When we got home, I noticed he was warm. I took his armpit temperature and it was 99.8. That is pretty high for a kiddo that doesn't get fevers. As soon as I saw the number pop up, I knew I was going to be taking him in.

For the past few days, I had a suspicion that his ear infection hadn't gone away, or he had another one. His sleep never got better from his last infection and he wasn't napping well. I gave him some Advil to help bring his fever down. Since it was too late to go to his regular pediatrician, we made a trip up the street to urgent care. It literally is a mile from our house. Convenient!

The wait was about 2 hours so the man at the admit desk said we could come back at 5:30 rather than wait in a crowded waiting room for that long. I was relieved by this because the clientele was errrrr......How do you say shady in a politically correct way?

Jack and I drove back home and he quickly had dinner and I ran him a bath. I knew it would be late by the time we got home so I wanted him all ready to go in his jammies. I called my mother-in-law and she agreed to meet us up there. I was relieved since I didn't want to be by myself.

When we returned to urgent care, most of the people were gone and we were brought back relatively quickly. The very nice medical assistant weighed Jack and then took his temperature. Even after getting some baby Advil, it was still 101.1. Again, for a child who doesn't get fevers, I was a little shocked. Jack got a tiny hospital gown to change into and then quickly fell asleep.

When the Physician Assistant finally came in the room, he greeted us and immediately, turned into Jerky Jerkerson. I gave him Jack's history of ear infections and explained he had just gotten through with his last round of antibiotics a week ago.

JJ (Jerky Jerkerson): Well what didn't get better from the last time?

Me: Do you mean his symptoms? Well, his sleep never got better. He's waking up a lot and generally fussy.

JJ: No, you aren't understanding. What didn't get better?

Me: I am not understanding your question. Can you explain what you mean?

JJ: Huff. Never mind. What are his symptoms now?

This back and forth crap went on for a while. He checked Jack's ears and sure enough, red rotten infection.

He gave me the lecture about not giving children antibiotics for ear infections and yada yada. Now, I realize that when children are not symptomatic, doctors are opting not to treat them with medicine. That makes sense to me. But, like my pediatrician says, if they are symptomatic, miserable, their sleep is affected and they aren't eating, why WOULDN'T we treat them? The PA told me that the main reason that most parents want their children treated for antibiotics is because they were missing too much work and it was an inconvenience to them to see thier children sick.

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Did you just stare blankly at this? When he told me that, I sure stared blankly at him. The only words that came out of my mouth were "What?!?" I explained that it had nothing to do with me missing work and everything to do with my son feeling better.

The PA backtracked and said that since Jack has a prior history of ear infections that he thought that antibiotics were the way to go. That's right you jerk. After arguing with him about medication, he said that wanted to put Jack on Amoxicillin. I explained that particular medication does nothing to help Jack's infections. He responds well to Omnicef. The PA didn't listen and left the room with "Let me consult some of my colleagues".

20 minutes later he was back and explained that he had called Oregon Health Sciences University consult service and everyone agreed that medication and Jack not responding had nothing to do with bad luck. They thought that it had to do with the anatomy of his ears and no medication would probably be all that helpful. Sigh.

So after leaving with a prescription for Augmentin (so much for the Omnicef), we were off. An hour later my child was home, asleep and I was standing in line filling a prescription. Have no fear, my mother-in-law was watching him.

Fast forward to Wednesday. Jack is not responding to the medication. He's fussy and running another fever. I call his regular pediatrician and her nurse says "Why did they give you Augmentin? He was just on Augmentin?". Blah blah blah, more unimportant details. Blah blah blah.

Jack is now on Omnicef and has a consult scheduled with an ear nose and throat doctor. He is doing much better now, but he still isn't sleeping great. I hope we have some answers this week. I also hope he starts eating and sleeping better. My poor daycare provider is probably exhausted since he hasn't been napping well.

Please pray for our family. I know that ear tubes are no big deal. I also know that tubes might not be the way to go for Jack. I just want my son to feel better.