Sunday, July 21, 2013

Another ER Visit

Quentin and I had a bit of a long week this past week. Here’s what went down. Monday a.m. I took Quentin with a swollen ear to our new paediatrician's office and a doctor (not our new one but one of the owners or co-owners of our clinic) told me that it was just a bug bite and told me it will go away on its own (that there was nothing to do for it) and sent us on our way. She told me I could give him Benadryl but it is drowsy, so maybe wait to see if he needs it to help him sleep at bedtime. After the appointment, I dropped him off at daycare. When I picked him up later that afternoon, his ear was mildly oozing clear liquid and looked even bigger (swollen). I took all the kids home, made dinner and after eating, Jamie took Sean and Mack to Sean's baseball game and I packed Quentin up and brought him to the Montreal Children's Hospital.

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One of his ears (his right ear) by evening was swollen double (maybe even triple!) it’s normal size. I have never seen anything like this before.

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At first they were going to have ENT (ears nose throat) look at it, give us antibiotics and send us on our way. But ENT didn't like the look of it and wanted to observe him overnight and see how it looked in the morning (Tuesday morning). So they admitted Quentin and gave us a crib for him on the 6th floor in the short stay unit. He got doses of IV antibiotic every 6 hrs. We saw ENT at lunch Tues and they wanted him on IV antibiotics for 48 hrs total. That meant another night’s stay at the children’s.

ENT came up at 7 am Wednesday to see him again and because he slept on his ear they want to see how it looked by 3 pm. I was pissed at this resident. Quentin was still asleep when he came to the crib during rounds. On top of it he was switched Tuesday night to oral antibiotics because his IV started to bubble so they had to take it out at his 9 pm dose. They tried to get it back in but after 6 or 7 attempts and him screaming bloody murder even with extra hands holding him down, they couldn't get it back in and after fighting with ENT to let him switch to oral antibiotics instead of through IV and because Quentin fell asleep at this point (it was almost 11 pm Tuesday night) ENT gave in and I fed him his meds by mouth while he was pretty much asleep. So because he was asleep on it the resident that came up they didn't think the oral meds were working which is why he said 3 pm, but an hour after he woke up his ear was better than the day before and I convinced the paediatric team to let us go home with a script for oral antibiotics and not have to wait for ENTs rounds later that day in the afternoon.

They think it is a bacterial infection in the cartilage of his ear, which needed to be treated or it's damaging to the ear. They said its rare but treatable. I also think they have never seen this before, not those doctors anyhow. They don't know why his ear became this way. It could have been either a bug bite that was a open or it possibly could have been a cut on his ear and he could have caught the infection one of those 2 ways. It's really unknown and we will never know. He is on antibiotics now, and is almost done them completely and his ear is completely back to normal pretty much. We have a follow up this week with ENT and we have an appointment with our paediatrician in his office next week. Our new paediatrician is so awesome that when he heard that Quentin was in the short stay unit, while he was on rounds on another floor, he took the time to come see us. That to me, is an awesome doctor.

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Quentin and I discovered parts of the hospital that we had never seen before. On the 8th floor there is an outdoor indoor terrace. Basically it’s an indoor terrace with air that comes in, for patients to get the sense that they are outdoors. It’s really quite nice, and I wish I had discovered this one day earlier, when Quentin was restless. They had a slide, some cars, and some jungle gym type equipment for the little ones. 3 days in the hospital is long! (And as you can see in the right hand picture of Quentin & I, his ear went back to normal size once the antibiotics kicked in).

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On Wednesday morning, Quentin got to do pet therapy for 30 minutes. He got to meet a dog named Gaia and Gaia even gave Quentin a pet dog to take home (above in the right picture). Quentin’s been walking his new dog everywhere, since it came with it’s very own leash. You press it’s back and it actually walks! Not only did Quentin get a pet dog to bring home, he got a book off a cart as well. A lady who volunteers at the hospital was going around with a cart full of brand new scholastic books. Quentin picked out a train book as his latest obsession is Choo Choo Trains.

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By Wednesday Quentin was restless and just wanted to be home where he could run around freely. I knew how he was feeling – I wanted to be back in my own space too.

6 comments:

Gabriela said...

I'm so glad he's feeling all better.

Teena in Toronto said...

Poor Quentin! His ear was huge! I hope he's okay now.

Celia said...

Oh my gosh! That looks terrible!

Taci simmons said...

Wow... That is crazy. I have never heard of anything like that. I'm so glad he is doing better now. It's so scary when our kids get sick.

Anonymous said...

what a trooper!!!!!!!! sweet boy :)

vicki

g-girl said...

What an ordeal! Glad the antibiotics took and you guys didn't have to stay any longer. I love the lil puppy he got! Here, the kids get a dog too but not one that walks. :)