The Gloves Are Off

As many of you know, my son has chronic ear infections.  He has tubes- on his second set actually.  He no longer owns adenoids and yet the infections still return.  Since January, he has had NINE ear infections.  Go ahead, read that sentence again.

True story.

Right now, we are living in the movie Groundhog Day- except that I am not able to change anything each time the infection returns.  The ear gets infected, Jordan begins to cough and his nose runs like a faucet.  He is uncomfortable, he is fussy and our hands are tied.  He is allergic to almost every antibiotic out there and so he is subjected to Jeff and I putting antibiotic ear drops in his ears.  Four drops.  Twice a day.  For seven days.  This happens every 2 1/2- 3 weeks.  I’m not exaggerating.  It returns like clockwork.

Jordan has been sick since September 2012.  We have taken all of the “normal” paths that “they” in modern medicine recommend and yet, we still have the same result.  I have been willing to follow doctors’ orders and really, nothing has changed.

Yesterday, Jordan was seen by his pediatrician.  Just like the ENT, he is at a loss.  I asked for immune work up.  The pediatrician said he didn’t want to jump to that right out of the gate, yet he didn’t say why.  Instead, he ordered lots of lab work and referred us to a Pediatric ENT at Yale.  I am curious as to why we would go to another ENT (yes, he specializes in children, I get that) when we were told nothing else could be done for him- from the ENT perspective.  He is too young to have his tonsils removed and besides, we don’t need to remove every fricken thing from this child’s body.

I took him to have the blood drawn.  Sadly, this wasn’t his first time having it done.  It did not go well, but I have to credit the lab techs who were amazing with him and me.  Five viles later, it was over.  I don’t know what to expect.  I don’t know what the results will even mean, but I feel like I’m being placated.

Something is amiss.  I feel it in my gut.

I worry that his immune system is compromised and may never be strong.  He had RSV at six weeks old and was hospitalized.  I swear that has something to do with all of this.  The doctors tell me no.  Well, they don’t always know everything.

People may be sick of hearing about this, and that’s ok.  Right now, this is our reality and this blog is all about that.

Remember the whole thing about working mom guilt??  Well, the doctor asked me if he still goes to daycare and I said yes with my head hung low and he then made the face that said, “that’s too bad.  If he weren’t in daycare, this most likely wouldn’t be happening.”  Sure, maybe I’m a little oversensitive to this part of the issue, but that’s beside the point.

But I digress.

I can’t control the rate at which his infections are coming back.  I can’t control his cough- no matter how much I try to suction and no matter how much he fights me while I try.  I can’t control his immunoglobulin levels.  However.  I can control who treats him.  I can control the infection once it rears its ugly head.  I can control the treatments he receives and I can control his comfort level.

What is happening to my son is not normal.  He does not need to “experience a growth spurt” as so many in the medical profession have told me.  By the way, he has grown two inches in the last three months- I consider that a growth spurt.  I guess they are looking for a larger spurt then that?  Riiigghhht…

Jeff and I will wait to get his lab results.  We will go and see the Pediatric ENT.  Where we go from there, I don’t know yet but I expect this to be an epic fight.  Which we will win.

No child should have to be consistently sick for almost one year straight.  Not one.

Stay tuned.