Back to the Doctor

At about eleven thirty this morning, Shrike came into the bedroom, where Peeper and I were sleeping, and started talking loudly about the doctor calling us back.

"Shhhh!" I said, "She's asleep!"

"No. They want to see her. They close at noon. Get up!"

Oh crap!

So, up we got, and dressed and diapered and out the door, before the doctor and her staff went home for the day.

We saw a different doctor today, one we've not seen since, hmm, maybe when Peeper was a newborn?

Although Peeper's rash is much better, she was able to see enough of it to confirm that it looks like an allergic reaction to the amoxycillin, as we thought.

She took another look in Peeper's ears, and says that the right one still looks fine, and the left one looks much better than it did on Wednesday.

She said that the antibiotics wouldn't have made it better that quickly, so it must actually have been a viral infection, so she did not give us a new antibiotic.

She confirmed that, for bigger kids, they usually watch and wait a couple of days to see if an earache gets better on its own, but that with babies, they go ahead and give antibiotics, "because they can't tell us if it feels better."

(Although, I think that Peeper has quite clearly let us know that she feels better. Not all better, by any means, but definitely much better than a few days ago.)

When I talked to LadyKay last night, she told me that her kids always got Auralgan, which is basically benzocaine eardrops, and she looked it up and found out that it's still available, and still prescription-only.

On Wednesday, when I asked if there was any kind of analgesic eardrop available, that doctor told me that there wasn't. When I asked about the Hyland's drops, she said, basically that they, "Can't hurt, might help," but they really didn't seem to help much.

So, I asked today about Auralgan, and she said, "Oh, that's over-the-counter now?"

"Really?" I asked, "Because my sister looked it up on WebMD, and. . . ."

"Yes, the pharmacy should have it."

So, off we went downstairs to the pharmacy, where they know Peeper by name.

I asked one of the girls there for help finding it, but all they had on the ear shelf was the same not-Hylands homeophathic stuff that we already have, and some "ear oil" which is essentially the same as the olive oil that we'd already tried, also to no avail.

So, I asked the pharmacist about it and he said it was only available by prescription.

He was kind enough to try calling up to the doctor's office, but they weren't answering the phone, because it was after noon.

So, I left Shrike and Peeper at the pharmacy and ran back upstairs, knocked on the window to be let in, and asked for a prescription.

When the nurse came back with it, she told me that, "Here you go, but she (the doctor) says it's over-the-counter. They might just not have it. It's hard to find. If you can't find it, you'll just have to let it go, and let it run it's course."

She didn't seem to believe me that the pharmacist had told me that he'd be happy to give us some if I could show him a prescription.

So, back to the pharmacy, to get the prescription filled, and then we were on our way.

I put a few drops in Peeper's ears, and now she's napping.

What we got isn't actually Auralgan brand, but it's the same stuff. If you're interested in getting some for your kid who has an earache, here's what you're looking for:



In case you missed that: