"Just a widdle wego wheel."

Sorry I've been so scarce. I've been a tad preoccupied with other things.

Wednesday night Little Dude woke up sobbing about his ear hurting. Took a long time to get him settled...tylenol, motrin, and finally pain killing drops in the ear (he has tubes). Called pedes Thursday morning and got him in only to be told "all looks good, nothing wrong, nothing we can do." He was still screaming in pain throughout the day, so I called his ENT and left a message. Got a call back, nothing we could do except continue to treat the pain with alternating tylenol and motrin, instructions to call back if he had a fever. More pain and sobbing Thursday night. Mighty Man randomly says something about his ear, which I ignore because I'm dealing with Little Dude's ear and thought it was attention seeking on his part.

Little Dude's still sobbing/screaming in pain Friday morning and spikes a fever (nearly 102 with both motrin and tylenol on board). Call ENT, he tells me to take him to pedes and get a second opinion.

The oldest three had karate camp from 10-11:30. The only urgent care appointment available is 11:30 unless I want to wait until 8:30 at night. Oh, and The Lizard? Is on a plane to Hawaii. I call a friend to pick up the kids, drop off 3 at the dojo and run to the pede early. Turns out, Little Dude has swimmer's ear. From swim lessons. Pick up numbing drops and antibiotic drops for his ears.

I got home, then made lunch for my friend and her son who picked up the kids. We sat and chatted while the kids played. I'm so thankful for her help!

As soon as she left, I started getting the kids ready for swim lessons. Mighty Man mentions he wants me to look at his ear because there is wax in it (he's had wax problems before and we usually pull a big chunk...pencil eraser size...out when he complains). I pull out the otoscope and take a look. Sure enough, there's a huge chunk of wax, so I try to get it out. It's weird, so I ask if there's anything else in his ear. He assures me there's nothing. I try again, and the wax really feels hard, which I find strange since he's been in swim lessons for the last 6 weeks. I ask again if there is anything in his ear (not believing for a moment that there is, but just wanting to make sure).

"Wewl, just a widdle wego wheel."

*JUST* a little lego wheel??? I called the pede, who told me that I needed to go to the ER. Neither the pedes or the Intermediate Care have the sterilized instruments needed to extract foreign objects from the ears. So guess what? I had to take Mighty Man to the ER yesterday afternoon.

Fortunately, The Neighbor called just as I was trying to figure out what I was going to do, and he was home from work and sight seeing for unexpected reasons. He came up and took Little Miss, Monkey Boy, and Little Dude down to his house while I took Mighty Man to the ER. We were in and out, including getting meds (the same exact pain killing and antibiotic drops I got for Little Dude earlier) in about an hour.

Turns out it was really a hotwheels sized tire, so not quite as big as I thought. Also seems as though Mighty Man put it in there a couple of days ago, so he also has an outer ear infection from having a foreign object in his ear. *sigh*

So The Lizard is in Hawaii and I'm here at home dealing with three trips to the doc in less than 24 hours, plus the trip for Little Miss and her finger on Monday. Oh, and the random virus that is causing 24-48 hours of unreasonably high fevers with no other symptoms. Monkey Boy had it first, then Little Miss and Mighty Man. Little Dude probably has it now, right along with the ear infection. Fun times in the Lizard household...when it rains, it pours!