Friday, February 10, 2006

My baby can't hear!

and it's really driving me up a wall!

Darly caught a cold a few weeks ago and last Saturday it turned into an ear infection. Well the kid hates to take medicine (so unlike her uncle ron!) and my "How to Take Care of Yourself" book says that the doc will want to wait before giving anything anyway... so we didn't go to the doc until very late on Tuesday.

Meanwhile she hadn't been eating and had been sleeping a whole lot.

She's been on her meds since late Tuesday and started feeling better on Thursday. She insisted that we go shopping, but about half way through (we ran to the Library, Wal-Mart & the Grocery store) she was starting to give out.

Today she's still the same and still can not hear. So I called up the doctor's office. They tell me that the hearing loss can last until after her meds are gone!

WHAT?!?!?!

So I immediately started surfing the web. I found a ton of sites that will sell me something to tell if she has an ear infection, which I already know. But then I also saw that I can give her an antihistamine to reduce the inflamation in her eustachian tubes and that will help them drain, which will help her to hear. We tried some of our allergy medicine and it seems to be working a little.

Now if I have her attention (which I can get by clapping) she can hear me from 10 feet away. This morning I was standing right next to her and she couldn't hear me unless she was looking at me.

wondering if she's lip reading?

BTW: My mom gets these infections every year and it used to drive me completely up a wall when I lived at home. She was practically stone deaf when she was sick. So I know where Darly gets this from... I suspect that Nana, Darly & I all have something with our Eustachian tubes because we all have problems with altitude and our ears...Luckily I have never had an ear infection...knock wood! Maybe that's because I had my adenoids removed???
I need to do more research...maybe if Darly gets hers out it might help. But I'm sure the doc will make me wait until she gets chronic ear infections. I should suggest this to mom.

Update Monday Feb 13: Darly still cannot hear so we're going back to the doctor to have her ears checked. When I called them on Friday they said I shouldn't be concerned yet... Darly normally goes to gymnastics class on Mondays, but I don't think it's safe for her to go if she can't hear the coach.

8 comments:

  1. Aww... I hope everything's well soon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I read your comments over at Jen's blog and wanted you to know that I'm also the possessor of a tilted uterus. Didn't want you to feel alone in the world. Tilters unite!

    Lori
    http://www.xanga.com/immax3

    ReplyDelete
  3. Renee - My son got tubes in his ears, cleared up those ear infections right away. It was such a blessing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anya had lots of problems, and got tubes and it was so great! Then, we thought Tiernan might need them, but he seemed to grow out of it. Maya and Sage don't seem to get ear infections, lucky dogs!

    I had the same problems with having fluid build up in my ears and not being able to hear. That's how I got IQ tested in 1st grade, the teacher thought I was retarded because I couldn't follow classroom instruction. Obviously I'm fine, once the tubes were in and I could hear everything was normal (as normal as I get at least hee hee!)

    Hope she starts draining soon, I'm glad she's not still hurting!

    ReplyDelete
  5. We are so lucky, four kids and only one has ever had an ear infection ONCE !
    I was deaf in June from a horrible case of the flu, not fun. Hope your little one is feeling better soon.

    ReplyDelete
  6. uggh, I had lots of painful ear infections as a kid... certainly no fun there. :/

    ReplyDelete
  7. That can't be good. Sending well wishes your way. Have you told the Dr that this runs in the family?
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fri morning called Dr office 'cuz she still wasn't hearing. got appt for 4:30pm.
    Saw dr and by then she was hearing better, but ears still infected, so gave me better meds. Dh gave me grief for spending the extra $$ cuz she was getting better.
    after 2 doses she is doing a whole lot better now. YAY, but of course now she has 9 more days of yucky medicine to go.

    ReplyDelete