A for Effort

Back in the middle of February we found out that Carter had lost a large portion of his hearing due to excessive fluid build up in his ears. The loss of hearing was strongly affecting his school work, especially in reading. Mark and I had honestly thought that he had just been ignoring us. I started paying a little more attention to detail though. I would call his name 10 times and he would never answer. The TV started getting cranked up louder and louder. We had conversations with him on whether or not he was having trouble hearing, but he said he didn't notice anything different. He didn't have any symptoms. No fever. No pain. Nothing. Then a couple days later Carter came home with a paper saying he had failed his hearing test at school. We were just devastated that we didn't realize it any sooner. His doctor told us that his hearing had probably been depleting over a long period of time, so Carter wouldn't have noticed much difference. The very next Tuesday (Feb. 23rd) he had minor surgery to have tubes placed in his ears. 

Yesterday he had his first follow up appointment with audiology and his ENT, Dr. White at MUSC.

I'm happy to report that Carter is back to 100% HEARING! His doctor was very please and we don't have to see him for another 6 months. 

After my marathon run to MUSC in downtown Charleston with 2 kids and a baby, I took a chance and ran into Dollar Tree in North Charleston to get a couple things. I was starting to really run low on spoons (energy). We finally made it home to wait for Landen to get home from school. I was tired and I just needed to sit for awhile. About 20 minutes after he got home he came to me saying his eye hurt really bad. OH. MY. WORD. I took one look at him and just knew in my gut the boy had pink eye. I immediately called his pediatrician's office and we were on our way to there.

After a longer than normal wait in the exam room with a tired baby who didn't get a good nap, 3 impatient older kids, the doctor confirmed my worst nightmare. Our family had come down with its first confirmed case of PINK EYE!!!!!!

No. No. No. No. This couldn't be true. How in the world did this happen? No. He can't have pink eye. When I was a kid all I had to do was look at someone with pink eye and I would get it. When we got home I quarantined him in his room with the TV and DVD player. Whatever he wanted to watch was up to him! I started sanitizing and washing everything. Then I remembered, "CRAP, he has a mapping appointment with audiology tomorrow". He was already going to need to be picked up early from school, now he couldn't go at all. What to do about his appointment though. I had already waited a month to get him to get a new map for his cochlears, and his hearing teacher needs a new audiogram before the end of May. There would be no way to him in on time again. MUSC is ridiculously busy no matter what specialty you need to see, but especially anything pediatric. For now he is home, and still planning on going to the appointment at 2pm, as it will be just shy of 24 hours since his treatment started. Mark is planning on leaving work early today to come get the boy for his appointment. 

Just to add insult to injury, MOMMA WOKE UP WITH PINK EYE!!!!!!! Yep, you've heard it here first folks. I HAVE PINK EYE. Go me! My last good pair of contacts (that I just put in on Sunday) just got ruined. 

Wow, what a week so far.....