Here We Go Again

Yesterday afternoon we got a call from the daycare that Grace was running a temperature of 101. Anything over 100 means that we have to pick her up and there is a 24 hour rule that says she has to be fever-free for 24 hours before going back. Eric picked her up, brought her home and gave her some Motrin and her fever went away. Around 2:30 a.m. she was coughing alot and kept waking up, so I gave her some baby cold medicine and that seemed to help, although I did check her temp and it was normal.

Today Eric and I decided to split the day. I stayed home with her this morning and he came home at lunch and I went in to work. During my half of the day, I took her to the doctor. She's had cold symptoms for several days (runny nose that crusts over at night). This weekend she started coughing too and not sleeping so well. Tuesday she started wheezing a bit while she breathes. The doctor seemed concerned that she might not have gotten over her pneumonia, although I was pretty sure that this was a new illness. It wasn't her normal doctor though, and her chart didn't have her original chest x-ray from the hospital, so he didn't realize the follow-up x-ray had shown an improvement. Anyway, he checked her lungs and said they sounded good, that the wheezing was still upper respirtory. However, she does have a sinus infection and ANOTHER EAR INFECTION! It's only her right ear and he showed me that it was starting to have drainage come out (very gross). He said that ear drops might be enough for the ear infection, but it wouldn't help with the sinus infection, so he was going to put her back on an oral antibiotic. He picked one of the 5 previous ones she'd been on.

So, after another copay and 2 prescriptions I'm slightly discouraged. It's been 4 weeks (tomorrow) since she had the tubes put in. Plus she's only been off the antibiotics prescribed at the hospital for a week and a half. He did say this is a bad time of year for ear infections, plus the sinus infection was causing extra drainage, so we have to wait and see if she's going to have more problems. However, an ear infection after the tubes isn't a good sign.

So far the big surgery seems to have not been that helpful. While her cleft if mostly repaired, there is still a hole we're going to have to deal with in some fashion. Plus the tubes didn't prevent this ear infection. Don't forget our bonus case of pneumonia and strep from the hospital stay. Regardless, she's worth all the hassle and I just feel bad that she has to go through all this. Hopefully, the hole will close and this ear infection is just a fluke and soon life will get back to normal.

The rest of this week is busy for me. Tomorrow (Thursday) I have another appointment with Dr. L (my surgeon). She's doing a check-up and had ordered a mammogram and CBC to be done before our appointment. I'm also hoping to get a concrete timeline on when I'll be starting radiation. I've got some other questions to ask her about diet and exercise restrictions. Friday is my last round of chemo. Yahoo! Danialle is coming in tomorrow and will go along with me. While, I'll still have to go in every 3 weeks for Herceptin, the chemo part will be done. That's a big step. Ok, it's getting late and I need to head to bed. I'll update tomorrow on my appointment with Dr. L.