Long Morning

This morning, Lucy woke me up and reminded me that her ear hurt. After giving her some ibuprofen last night, she slept through the night just fine and woke up happy. But I had a feeling that I should make an appointment with her pediatrician. But when I called the offices, I found out our pediatrician was no longer there and had moved to a different clinic. Fortunately, the new clinic she relocated to is actually a little closer to our home than the old one but still a bit of a drive. Lucy's pediatrician is in the same area where we used to live in West Jordan but since we moved to Salt Lake City, I haven't bothered to switch doctors because I want her to have consistency (she's been with this pediatrician since she was born) and we only go to the doctor a few times a year.

The clinic is brand new and not busy at all so I was able to get an appointment for 10:00 am. Lucy insisted on choosing her own clothes this morning (as she always does) and this is what we ended up with:

The same shirt she wore yesterday because she didn't want to change it, her bathing suit, and her new pink leggings over it, finished off with her snow boats (even though the temperature is lovely today, if a bit windy).

Since the pediatrician didn't have Lucy's records since they were at the old clinic, I reminded her that Lucy had chronic ear infections before she had tubes surgically inserted in her ear but that one of the tubes had already fallen out of the ear drum but was still in the ear canal and the other ear had a bead stuck in the ear canal that hadn't made its way out the last time we checked. I told the doctor that Lucy's right ear had been hurting last night and when the doctor asked her which ear was hurting this morning, Lucy pointed to her right ear again (so grateful she has such great comprehension! and that she is consistent).

Lucy was so good for her appointment - very obedient and listened well and she didn't seem to be scared at all. I didn't even hold her - she just climbed on to the exam table all by herself and listened to the doctor and I didn't have to do a thing at all. When the doctor looked in her ears, she confirmed everything I said. The tube in her left ear had fallen out of the ear drum and was still hanging out in the ear canal but it would make its way out eventually and just fall out.

She didn't see any inflammation at first in the right ear, but that is because the little bead that Lucy put in her ear sometime last year and the tube were still stuck in the ear canal with a whole lot of ear wax. She had previously tried to remove the bead from Lucy's ear canal last year but couldn't get it out so she said to just let it work its way out. But this time, she tried again and after pulling out gobs of ear wax, finally got the bead and tube out. Lucy barely flinched. But the pediatrician said that all the ear wax was probably affecting Lucy's hearing so she should hear better now (which is good to know because I swear, Lucy never seems to pay attention to what I'm saying unless I'm practically yelling and I thought she just wasn't listening). After she removed everything and she could see clearly, there was definitely some inflammation which meant she had an ear infection so we picked up a prescription.

So here is a picture of the ear wax/bead/tube mess and all the extra wax she had to pull out just to get to it. I wish I had something next to it to show scale but it was pretty small (I love the macro on my camera!). The doctor laughed when I pulled out my camera but I'm sure she must understand us bloggers. And I personally think it is pretty interesting. She even asked if I wanted to keep it but I declined. It was pretty gross.

Such a trooper!

 All the nasty ear wax was just wiped on the paper.

Very excited to get some medicine (which was pink after telling the doctor it was her favorite color). She even got to choose a free prize on the way out.

I'm so grateful we have such good health insurance and medical care. I think the doctor was grateful we chose to stay with her instead of choose another doctor from her old clinic too so that is nice to feel that gratitude. Lucy will be back in just a few weeks for her 3 year appointment too so it will be exciting to get all her stats (although they did weigh her at this appointment and she is still tipping the scales at just 26 lbs).

After Lucy's appointment, we headed to Target to get her prescription filled and then I picked up just a few things I had coupons for. Actually, I legitimately needed to get more painter's tape so it worked out. And then Lucy was starving because it was lunchtime so we stopped a McDonald's again on the way home because I had a coupon for buy one get one free chicken McNuggets and that is what Lucy requested (well, she wanted some chicken). Not the healthiest option but convenient and a nice little reward for Lucy being so good this morning.

And since I wanted to be extra productive this morning since I couldn't paint my closets like I planned, we stopped by the car wash to use a Groupon voucher but it didn't work. I was pretty annoyed and sent my complaint off to Groupon when we got back home. Lucy fell asleep in the car ride home and probably really needed it after a semi-rough night of sleep, a long day yesterday, a long morning today, and a new infection to recover from. But it was still a reasonably early nap for her (1:00 pm) so I could get this post up to inform you all and hopefully, get in at least one coat of paint for my two closets this afternoon!

I think this will be the second ear infection she has had in just over a year since she had her tube inserted. Let's hope she doesn't get so many more that she needs a second surgery to get them reinserted. But the best news from all of this is that she won't need these anymore:

Those are her custom made ear plugs she has needed to wear every time she went swimming or took a bath or shower. That is at least one less thing to worry about (even though she was pretty good about wearing them, but still liked to take them out - and one fell down the drain once). Good riddance!