Building & Strenghting the family... one day at a time!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Not getting over this ear infection

Ashton’s nurse has been at the house the past couple of days and has spent a lot of time holding him. He started the new antibiotics 6 days ago and we aren’t seeing any improvements (20 days of antibiotics all together). He still is having an occasional low grade fever. He is still pulling at his ears also. His doctor’s “usual” nurse is out right now, so we are working with the front desk to see about getting him in. This is different as we are not used to making an appointment through the front desk nor have we ever taken Ashton through the front doors of his doctor’s office. They tell us to go through the back to avoid getting him around any of the sick kids. They take good care of us and we are missing Glenda, the pediatricians nurse. Ashton’s home health nurse commented to me today that she felt like he needed to get in by tomorrow to see about getting an antibiotic by injection. The oral just doesn’t seem to be touching this ear infection. I was hoping to avoid the shot, but I’m getting concerned about him not responding to these antibiotics with MRSA getting worse.

I forgot that we changed insurance companies for prescriptions this year. I have been so confident about how the insurance paid 100% of his Synagis shot all last year. Then I got the run-around this time and realized that we were working with a new company. I just told the insurance guy when he called that I thought that the insurance he had last year realized that paying for the Synagis shot would potentially save them money in the long run. Then I told him that he has had 3 heart surgeries and he called me back a little later and said that it was approved 100%, so we go in tomorrow for that shot. I guess if emotional explanations don’t work on them, then there is always the old money issue to fall back on. In…it is going to cost you a lot more than this is he gets sick and goes to the hospital. That I guess they understand!

Even though he is not feeling 100%; that isn’t slowing him down much. He is all over the place. I had run upstairs for a minute and when I came back down; he had grabbed a hold of the edge of the entertainment center and pulled himself up part way so that he was up on one knee. Then he wasn’t sure how to get that leg back down again and was looking a bit scared when I came back down. The look of despair he gave me was so cute!

2 comments:

The Curtis Family said...

You may not know me. I am also part of the IHH group and my son Ethan also has HLHS. I actually think we were in the hospital at the same time when Ethan was born and when Ashton was getting his Glenn. It is so scary this time of year with all of the illness going around. Especially when you have other children. I don't take Ethan anywhere but things still make it into our home. I guess you can only do your best. I hope Ashton starts feeling better. Also, if you don't mind, I am going to put you on as a link on our blog. (ethanjamescurtis.blogspot.com)

---Allison

Ashton's Family said...

Hi Allison,

I was reading your first post on Ethan’s blog. I think you are right about being in the hospital at the same time. We were there in May and we met the Homers for the second time then. They were the only family we knew of who were going through all of this back then. It is amazing that so many families are coming together through IHH. It’s nice to know were not alone. My wife and I found out about Ashton’s condition in utero, so we had a few months to prepare for Ashton arrival. That was hard, but I can’t imagine having it sprung on us all at once and trying to make decisions so fast.

It would be great if you want to post a link on Ethan’s blog. I have put one on Ashton’s.
Have a good Thanksgiving,
Nathan