I know I’ve mentioned before that I have an autistic son. As I’m sure all parents of special needs children have experienced, I’ve gone through just about every negative emotion you could ever imagine. Fear, depression, hopelessness, frustration, and more. It’s not easy caring for a child who has ‘issues.’ Sometimes it’s downright hard.
But mostly he’s just my son, and I’m just his mom, and this is the way our life is. It’s pretty normal for us.
And it’s often a lot of fun. I wrote about his love of infomercials and my stupidity for letting the $840.00 knife deal slip through my fingers. One of these days I’ll share with you a story about fruits and vegetables, and his opinion of them.
Today’s blog, though, concerns yet another ear infection, something that’s plagued him since he was little. Fortunately they don’t occur as often, but they still come around with annoying regularity.
This past weekend he told me his right ear was bothering him, so I made an appointment. And yesterday he got to see the P.A., which didn’t go over as well as it should have. After all, she’s not a real doctor.
So anyway… The biggest concern on the P.A.’s part seemed to be a wax buildup in his left ear, easily taken care of with a tube attached to a spray bottle full of water and peroxide. I swear by his reaction, you’d have thought the nurse was performing surgery without anesthesia.
Once it was out, the P.A. came back in to have a look, told me there was water behind both ear drums, and she prescribed an oral antibiotic, along with ear drops for the left ear (four drops, twice a day…and this is significant).
Because of the timing, I didn’t have him start either prescription until late evening, at which point Christopher notices that the ear drops say three times a day. This is not what the doctor said. Someone got something wrong somewhere along the line, and it’s going to be impossible to do drops three times a day (his concern, not mine, because I know we can easily manage three times a day).
Then comes this afternoon. After my pool workout. After a quick trip to the grocery store and bank. After dealing with all the drivers who should just stay home so I don’t have to worry about what stupid thing they might do while I’m out on the road. All I wanted to do was relax and wind down a little.
But, alas, it wasn’t meant to be…
Why? Because my son is now convinced that his right ear is also infected, and I need to make another doctor’s appointment. Immediately! Of course I want to know why he thinks he needs to go back when he already has antibiotics.
Did I mention that I really hate it when my kids look at me like I’m stupid?
Well that’s the look I got right then. Because the doctor only said his left ear was infected. Sure wish someone had clued me into the new antibiotics rule. I wasn’t aware that there were specific ones for the left ear, and different ones for the right. Nope. Silly me.
And now I’m going to be annoyed with him in the morning…because just as I start to fall asleep tonight, I’m going to remember this. And start giggling again.
