Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Otitis Media and Cavities

The last few days have been spent at drs offices, dentists, and more fun places like that. Nothing serious, but annoying to have so many appointments in one week.

Jane turned out to still have fluid in her ears, just like two months ago. The doctor let the medical student look again 'Here! See the nice line of fluid, it even has bubbles in it!' She did the tympanogram thingy which was totally flat, confirming the visual diagnosis. Also , her nose membranes were red and swollen, even while she didn't have a cold or anything at the moment.

For now we'll wait and see for another two months. But I have to admit that I wonder how the heck she ended up with otitis media at such an 'old' age. Our family experience so far has been with Cees and Tim in the early years. Between the two of them , they had six sets of ear tubes, while the rest of the family never had any big ear issues. Coindidentally, they were the only ones who spent significant time in daycare, because both of us had to work back then.

Jane is our first one to have chronic (maybe) fluid issues like this. Which makes me ponder, and wonder, but not enough to do anything about it till we still see it present two months from now. I am not sure what the long term risks of this are, will have to spend time googling it more.



Cees and Tim both had dentist visits, and Cees discovered that yes, indeed people do get cavities if they don't brush their teeth. So more visits to the dentist for him. Gotta love teenagers.

Tomorrow, it is Tara's turn to visit the doctor for an ear re-check, life is never boring around here. Kate had a cavity too, we have seen too many doctors and dentists lately.

On a totally different topic. If anyone knows the name of the plant in the picture, I would appreciate it. It was a very small plant with a very red berry. You can see pine needles next to this plant, which seem giant, to give you some idea of the small size of the leaves and the berry.

4 comments:

Jen said...

Although I'd never seen it before, I had a hunch it was wintergreen, and google images seems to confirm that.

Anonymous said...

It is either wintergreen or partridge berry. You can tell by squishing the berry or crushing the leaves: if there is no odor it is partridge berry, but if there is a wintergreen scent, it is wintergreen. Both are edible, but partridge berries are seedy and tasteless, good for color only.

Keppy Boone said...

Poor ears... my oldest had major ear infection issues. She eventually had tubes and it helped but didn't take the infections completely away.

Trey hasn't ever been in daycare and was breastfed for the longest and hasn't been sick in his life yet. (Well, with the exception of a VERY short less than 24hr stomach bug). It's amazing how much good those two things are for little ones haha!!

someday said...

Have you tried an Otovent and Carbicisteine for the glue ear?

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