Saturday, August 18, 2012

When Idioms Come True

or an alternate blog post title might be...

One of Many Reasons Life is Never Boring at Our House


We've all told someone else that we'll Put a bug in her ear about something, right?  Freedictionary.com defines the idiom this way:

to impart useful information to another in a subtle, discreet way

That's nice. And often so necessary in relationships.

However, that is not the definition of bug in your ear that we experienced recently. Here's how the story goes...

EG began to have ear pain in the middle of the night about 10 days ago. By morning, it was clear that I needed to take her to the pediatrician. She was screaming in pain. Having been swimming the night before, I assumed that perhaps she'd acquired swimmer's ear and a resulting (albeit super-fast onset) ear infection...

Praise God that when I called the doctor at 7:30am, they answered right away and gave us a mid-morning appointment. And thanks be to God that my mom is here, allowing me to take that appointment and get out the door with just two children (Baby H came along)!

By the time we arrived at the doctor's office, EG was experiencing sudden, sharp pain and popping in her ear. Sitting in the waiting room, she was grabbing her ear and screaming, crying. Miserable. I could not help her. I hate that. I was praying, asking others to pray (love text messaging for those moments), trying to comfort her. We both look back and thank God that the waiting room was empty and that we were taken to an exam room quickly.

She was diagnosed with a severe ear infection and the pediatrician graciously gave her some pain medication right there. I took poor EG to the pharmacy where we picked up her antibiotic, then we swung by Jack in the Box for a (fun) drink to wash down the meds.

As the day wore on, EG rested, but kept complaining about pain and discomfort. By evening, she was screaming again. Oh, that's something terrible to hear. The helplessness. Turning to God in prayer, calling BB home from an evening meeting, considering an ER visit. Praying for wisdom. I let her take her pain medicine closer together than recommended. She finally fell asleep close to midnight and slept through the night. Thank God.

In following days, the pain eased, but she still complained of discomfort. After a week or so I had a duh moment: I have an otoscope. Why don't I take a look in the ear, see if the infection is looking better. I'll blame that lapse in common sense on my sleep-deprived state.

After taking a look in her ear, I decided to take mom's advice and try flushing the ear a bit. After a couple of flushes, I made a most unnerving discovery....the above pictured INSECT.

Gross. Gross. Gross. Blech. Poor, poor EG.

I did not tell her that night what had come out, in the interest of allowing her the peace of mind to sleep well that night.

Anyway. We were off to the pediatrician the next morning, bug in a ziplock, EG laughing about it. I'm thankful that she took the news with a good sense of humor! (Again, praising God mama was here to hold down the fort while I ran EG to the doctor again...for a family that rarely goes to the doctor at all, we're making quite a path to that location...5 visits in about 4 weeks between Baby H and EG!)

So that's most of the story. Crazy? Yes. So. Weird.

Right now, she is still being treated for an infection, which resulted from the trauma caused by the idiotic bug who went in but couldn't back himself out. And she requires a visit to the ENT this week, I'm thinking, because as I look in there with the scope, all is not looking quite right yet.

But the worst is over, for sure.

We've counted blessings, EG writing them in her Thankfulness Notebook. We've laughed over it.

What an interesting, not boring life God has given us.

8 comments:

  1. poor little thing...wow ...how awful ... Annie Oakley had the same thing...if that's comforting at all. But goodness so awful... glad she is doing better...looks like half of a clicker bug to me...hope it gets completely better soon !

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  2. Jamie! You are the best! Thanks for identifying the bug. Now that I've read up on clicker bugs (clicker beetles), many of her pitiful complaints make perfect sense now.

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  3. Awww poor lil thing...hope this is all over soon !

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  4. Hello Beth, I've been reading your lovely blog for a while. Finally leaving a comment because the earache rang a bell. Sorry to hear that EG had to go through all the pain. Hope she is fine now.

    As a child, I remember waking up once in the middle of the night, sobbing loudly because of terrible earache. Occasionally it felt like two little bugs were dancing inside my ear. My grandma, with whom I shared a room, woke up, warmed some coconut oil, and poured it into my ear with spoon. The pain stopped, and there ended the matter!

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  5. It's nice to "meet" you, Twil! Thanks for coming, for commenting!

    Sounds like your grandma did the very best thing for you, from what I've read now about bugs in ears!

    I am happy to report that EG's ear is doing MUCH better and we may be able to avoid the ENT! Praise God!

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  6. oh my WORD. As if everything else at your house wasn't exciting enough!! So glad the bug is out - I will never think of that phrase the same way again!

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  7. Oh, poor girl. Gives me chills to think about that icky thing in her ear. My mom had a tiny beetle crawl into her ear when I was a teenager...I remember being scared because she was in so much pain and we didn't know what was wrong until we went to the hospital. Those bugs aren't very smart, are they? :)

    Glad to hear that EG is doing ok now! Hopefully you all can breeze through the next {long} while without any major events!

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