Up in the Night

The past two weeks Tanner has been sick. I took him to the doctor a week ago and he put him on an antibiotic for an ear infection. He also had a cough but the doctor said his lungs sounded clear. I left feeling positive about the future. I chose to have pills for Tanner because he is good at taking pills. He actually had two antibiotics. One was a chewable (he liked it) and one was a pill. I thought it would be like a little capsule, which is what he is used to taking. It was pretty big, but the pharmacy was closing and I thought I would take my chances. Tanner took it but didn't swallow it soon enough and it started dissolving in his mouth. The next thing I know he's grabbing a trash can to throw up in because it is so nasty tasting. I decided I would put it (well, actually a fresh one) in some yogurt and have him swallow it. It worked! I licked my finger from getting a little yogurt on it and thought I would throw up from just the little bit of the pill I got on my finger. It was nasty!! We continued with this method for a few days until the weekend when I realized Tanner was not getting any better. In fact by Saturday morning his cough sounded awful and his other ear hurt. I kept him home from his Jr. Jazz game and let him sleep. He had been coughing so hard through the night for almost a week that he would gag and feel like he would throw up. He was carrying a bowl around with him in case he did. We also kept him home from church Sunday because he was feverish, still coughing, and had an ear infection. Poor guy!

I was able to get him back in to see his pediatrician and his other ear was infected! The thing I forgot to tell you is that on the previous visit the doctor pulled out some wax and his ear tube that was surgically put in place several years ago. I guess it was just sitting in the ear canal and kind of blocking the view to the eardrum. He was very big and brave during this. On yesterday's visit, again the doctor couldn't see the eardrum because of wax, so he got out this crochet looking tool and dug wax out of that ear. I asked if he needed to dig more out. He said he probably should, but could see around it to see that there was a nice infection in that ear. Erik, 13, said, "Oh, I remember having that done to me. It really hurts," just as the doctor stuck the tool into the ear canal. Thanks, Erik! Timing is everything!!
This whole introduction leads me to last night. I awoke through the night to Tanner standing in the door of our bathroom. The light was on so I just thought Steve was getting ready for the day and that Tanner came to find one of us because he was coughing through the night. There was also a light on in the den. Steve's morning routine is to get up and be in the bathroom for a few minutes, get ready to exercise, then head into the den to check his computer. When I was finally awake enough to look at the clock and have it register, it showed 12:37. Are you kidding me?!? I haven't been able to talk with Steve about this yet to see what happened, but he must have been up with Tanner for a bit then headed to the kitchen to get some meds for the poor guy.
I confess, I sleep with ear plugs in to block out loud noises so I can rest. I could never have done this with young children always waking through the night. As I get older I am more sensitive to sounds. (see previous posts about early morning drill team practices and lack of sleep.) It bothers me to hear an alarm go off over and over and over again before someone actually gets out of bed for good. (yes, I can still hear the alarm go off, but at least I can get back to sleep if it's not mine.) It also bothers me to hear the sounds of the humidifier going every night. I don't mind the humming, but I can't stand hearing the dripping noise. It's like fingers on a chalkboard to me, I've decided.
So back to last night. I don't know how long Tanner was up, but I was aware of his presence at 12:37 a.m. At about 12:50, Steve comes back to bed and turns the tv on for Tanner to take his mind off of his coughing. He still continued to cough, so I got up and held him in the chair in our room figuring that sitting upright a little more would help him breath better. The tv trick worked. Tanner was on his way to sleep. I moved him to the floor but propped up some pillows to put his head on so he could breath okay. He slept through the rest of the night. Woohoo! When morning came all my kids were sick, so Holly went back to bed until her 4th period class then went to school for the rest of the day. Erik decided he needed to go to school for the last two classes and Tanner decided he was well enough to go to school for two hours. Wow!
Steve tried to sleep a little longer than usual because of the short night. When he woke up he said, "I woke up at 3:30 to take Milo out of his crate because he had diarrhea." When I asked how he heard him he said, "He was yelping and I figured that was what the problem was." I guess he got up at that time and put both the dogs outside in their kennels because the crate was, well, you know. . .
Did I tell you that the night before that we were awaken by a phone call from Holly's phone at 1:30 a.m? She apparently rolled onto her phone while it was charging on her bed and it dialed the last number called. Any wonder why I'm sleep deprived?