The other day when I went to pick my daughters up from swim practice, my 10 year old was perched on the edge of the pool while her friends were still swimming. I asked her coach what was up and she told me my daughter was complaining that her ear hurt. This was coming from a child who never complains at practice about anything.

She didn’t finish practice and I got her some ibuprofen to at least help with the pain until we could figure out was was going on. As the evening progressed her pain got more severe – to the point of tears. I did everything I knew to do – ibuprofen for the pain, Childrens Sudafed to help with the congestion, a warm compress, warm olive oil drops, and even Similasan Children’s Earache Relief Ear Drops.

Still no relief. Since I had no desire to sit in the Emergency Room unless absolutely necessary, I called the night nurse for our pediatrician’s office to get more ideas. When I mentioned that my daughter had been swimming she immediately thought of swimmers ear. She asked where the pain was coming from, could I see any redness, pus or discharge from my daughter’s ear canal (the answer was no), and did it hurt to touch the outer part of her ear (again, no). Swimmers ear is an infection in the ear canal and is usually caused by water pooling in the canal (kids with waxy ears are more prone to this).

She recommended that we treat it like both swimmers ear and an ear infection because the home treatment for swimmers ear would help if it were swimmers ear and would not make things worse if it was just a regular ear infection.

The home treatment for swimmers ear is to mix 1 part water to 1 part white vinegar in a glass container. Then use a dropper and fill the ear canal with the water/vinegar mix. Let it sit for 15 minutes then drain fluid with towels. If it is swimmers ear, this will give dramatic relief immediately.

Seeing as she got no relief from the water/vinegar mixture we determined that it was most likely an infection in the middle ear and the inflammation and pressure on her ear drum were making her so uncomfortable. At this point I had done everything I could do to make her comfortable and we decided to tough it out through the night until we could get in to her doctor’s office in the morning.

The ibuprofen was the only thing that reduced the pain to the point where she could sleep for a few hours at a time. The next morning we were the first ones at the doctors office and they were so kind to take her right in even though I didn’t have an appointment (I guess that is one benefit to using the same pediatrician for 12 years!).

They swabbed her throat for strep – just in case – and it came back negative. When the doctor examined her ear it was without a doubt an ear infection. They prescribed anti-biotics and we were instructed to continue the ibuprofen, heating pad, and sudafed as needed.

Day two and she seems to be feeling better, but still not healthy enough to go back to school. Looks like I may need some sick day sanity savers.

Remember that I am not a doctor, but after years of hearing swimmers ear vs. ear infection, I finally understand the difference and hope this makes it a bit easier for you to understand, too. When trying to determine what steps are needed to make your child more comfortable, when to call your doctor, or whether to send your child to school or not, information is definitely your best line of defense!

Photo originially from StockXchng, modified by me for explanation purposes.

The first thing on my list was a dentist appointment for me. Oh joy, but it went fine – until the end when my phone rang. Of course, it was the school, and no, someone hadn’t forgotten lunch money, my 6 year old was in the nurse’s office throwing up.

I headed to the school (after running home to get her a change of clothes at the nurses direction) to pick her up and immediately took her to the doctor’s office. Normally I wouldn’t take one of the kids to the doctor for a simple puking episode, but since this was the 4th time in 6 weeks, she had diarrhea with it, and she had a low grade fever, I felt like it was time to get to the bottom of it all.

We have determined that it is not a virus, as she doesn’t continue throwing up or having diarrhea all day – its a quick 3-4 pukes in 10-15 minutes and then all is relatively normal. But a few days ago I noticed an eczema patch on her face below her lip. Add to that her history of molluscum, hospitalization for extreme uti, and the title of “queen of the funky rashes” my doctor finally decided it was time to do some extensive lab work.

The doctor ordered a full CBC, sed rate, gluten sensitivity test, immune system test, general food allergy test and a few more. Hopefully the data that comes back will shed some light on all this.

Great. Did I mention my daughter has serious anxiety about needles? Oh yeah, this was going to be so much fun. As soon as she figured out what we were about to have to go do, she freaked. I got her settled down and we made it to the lab. I had to have her sit on my lap and hold her arm in order for the lab tech to do her job.

She cried and fussed about the blood draw, but not as much as I had expected. Once it was all over she stood up to put her jacket on and suddenly started shaking and collapsed. She had fainted but had convulsed a bit in the process. I did everything in my power to stay calm as none of my kids has ever done this. The lab techs moved her to a room with an examining table and we called her pediatrician back.

I was worried we were going to end up in the ER, but her pediatrician helped us assess the situation and luckily, we didn’t have to. It took her about 15 minutes to regain her color and be able to sit up. I finally got her home and she spent the rest of the afternoon sipping root beer and eating bland foods. Funny thing is, now she feels great.

I am really hoping th blood work reveals something. If whatever it is can be managed through dietary modifications or something similar, I would much prefer that over the mystery random puke sessions. I’m sure my daughter would prefer that too.

Here’s hoping tomorrow will be drama free! And as soon as I get the lab work results, I will do a follow up post.

Now the rash has moved down her arms and onto her trunk. I also noticed some splotchy-ness on my other daughter’s face and neck.  The fact that I now see it on both of them really leads me to believe we are dealing with Fifth Disease.

Unless your kids have contact with someone who is pregnant (or if you are pregnant and have been exposed), there really isn’t much you can do about Fifth Disease other than to let it run its course. It is viral and has no lasting effects. As a matter of fact, once the rash appears, your child is no longer contagious and chances are you didn’t know they had it when they were contagious.

Now hindsight is 20-20 and looking back on the week, my youngest daughter was very tired on Tuesday and extra grumpy, but I had no way of knowing that it was connected to the Fifth Disease at the time.

For a complete description of Fifth Disease, pictures of the rash, and additional resources, visit the Kids Health site.

Pinkeye is an inflammation of the conjunctiva (the white of the eye) which is usually caused by a virus, but can be the result of an allergic reaction or bacteria. In school age children, it is usually viral in nature – kind of like getting a cold in your eye – and it is highly contagious.

So what is a Mom to do? I am going to treat this as if it is a virus at first which means, she is not going to school today. I have stripped the sheets off her bed and will be washing them in hot water with a touch of bleach. Next, I will apply a warm compress to the eye regularly through out the day. The microorganisms that cause this infection are sensitive to heat, plus the heat will help loosen any debris.

Additionally, I will be giving her plenty of fluids – especially those high in Vitamin C and let her rest.  I will also give her pediatrician a call, just to double check, and will administer Vigamox drops if so advised (Vigamox is used to treat bacterial pinkeye and works very quickly).

Pinkeye is nothing to be alarmed about, but must be taken seriously to prevent a house-wide or classroom-wide outbreak.

For more on pink eye:

• KidsHealth – Pinkeye (Conjunctivitis)
• WebMD – Pinkeye Overview
• Pediatrics Now – Backtoschoolitis
• Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child