Poorly E and a trip to the hospital

There is nothing worse than feeling poorly, whether you are in pain or just sick and under the weather it isn’t pleasant but at least you know how to look after yourself.

When your little one is poorly, it knocks you for six, you can tell fast when a toddler really is not feeling well: they feel warm, they’re not their normal energetic self, their whining and crying increases, they don’t want to eat, and they all of a sudden want to cuddle you all the time.

On Saturday E had eaten her tea but left her ice cream which is strange but I didn’t really think to much about it. It was several minuets later when E walked into the kitchen saying her ear hurts, my instant reaction was what did you walk into? After all three-year olds are quite clumsy. However she said she hadn’t walked in to anything and I noticed her holding her ear.

I decided at the put her into her pyjamas and get her to lie down on my bed, by the time I had done that she was holding her ear constantly and was a little tearful, so out came the calpol. E luckily started to doze off so I assumed the calpol had worked, however ten minuets later she woke crying and was obviously in more pain. There isn’t anything more disheartening than seeing E with sunken eyes, and feeling her little arms holding onto me so tightly and breathing that warm wet breath into your neck while tears fall on your shoulder.

I thought I had better ring 111 so that we could get to see an out of hours doctor, on a Saturday night I knew it was going to be tricky. I was advised to treat the ear pain at home as ear ache can last a few days. I however put my foot down and demanded to see someone. I know local doctors are easier to get hold of in the evening than in the middle of the night, I was having visions of having to call an ambulance out as I wouldn’t be able to get to a walk in centre as unfortunately I don’t drive. As luck would have it the local hospital had Devon doctors and they contacted me and told me to come straight up.

Well that was easier said than done, getting a taxi on a Saturday night was harder than I expected, most had a 45 minuets wait, fortunately one company had a cancellation. So I wrapped E up warm and bundled her into a taxi, despite her having ear ache she thought it was brilliant that she was going in a taxi in her pyjamas. When we arrived at the hospital E was holding me as tightly as she could and cuddling me, fortunately we only had to wait five minuets to be seen. The doctor checked E over and she was fit and healthy apart from an inflamed ear drum, he described it an acute ear infection and said to treat it at home but gave me a prescription for antibiotics and advised if it did get any worse get the antibiotics in the morning. E found all of this very exciting a she is currently obsessed with playing doctors at home.

Once we were home I put E straight to bed, she simply rolled over and fell quiet, without her usual insistence on stories, songs, and so on. I stayed and snuggled for a minute or two, then departed. She seemed to go straight to sleep so I came down stairs and relaxed after the whole commotion. What amazed was me how quickly E went from being fine to being poorly and in a lot of pain. I must admit I did panic a little, but the prospect of having a poorly little girl and not being able to drive to get her to see someone in the middle of the night did concern me. E always seems to get really poorly when her daddy is away and I am sure when he comes back he will wonder what all the fuss was about, he is a lot more laid back about things in general where as I do instantly get into panic mode. I am aware even if E is really poorly he wouldn’t be able to fly back that easily from where ever he is working at the time, I do find this frustrating.

Half an hour passed and I thought E was settled until the crying started again I went to her and as I stroked her head and soothed her, I asked if she could sit up. She told me, “If I sit up it will hurt my ear.” I was astounded at her ability to recognize this and express it to me so clearly  I picked her up and tucked her into my bed and gave her some neurofen.

At this point I realised she probably might need the antibiotics and as I couldn’t leave her and didn’t want to wake her, I decided to try to contact a friend to help, after phoning a few friends, none of which answered I was in a bit of a flap however E seemed to be fast asleep this time so I got into bed next to her so I was there if she needed me.

The night passed fairly uneventfully after that, apart from me getting very little sleep and E managing to fall out of bed, and no emergency trips to the hospital were needed. E woke around 6am in the morning seemingly back to normal and has not had any further symptoms.

What I couldn’t believe but was also pleased to see was that E was back to her usual self, she told me she felt better now and then started talking about how exciting it was going in the taxi in her pyjamas, it appears little people can become ill all of a sudden but can also bounce back quickly.

I am glad I made the right decision to go to an out of hours doctors for peace of mind and things could have ended up being a lot worse and then I would have felt quite helpless. Sunday morning was spent relaxing on the sofa, much-needed in my case and I black mailed E to sit still and lie with me with grapes and chocolate. E was definitely back to normal with bundles of energy whilst I resembled a Zombie.

The weekend seemed to have disappeared in a bit of a blur, I am just pleased that E is better now and that antibiotics were not needed in the end.