Sunday, March 30, 2008

Two Steps Forward...

Peaches turned 2 Friday, and we celebrated with a small but lovely gathering in our backyard with family and treats in plenty supply. It may have been our first successful celebration in quite some time, full of good moods, probably because we kept things small, simple, dialed back. Some of the family members had not seen either of the kids in some time, though they've been hearing about all of our collective struggles and strides. They offered helping hands, such as taking the rooster for a walk with a plentiful cup of organic strawberries (his absolute favorite treat) at the perfect time so that Peaches could enjoy the verboten chocolate cake without hurting his feelings or wrecking the festivities.

With spare offerings aside from fruits, veggies and cake, we explained to our guests our initiation into gfcf eating, and I commented how much healthier the rooster looks -- purple shiners receding -- without stopping to think, as you surely are now, what the deities would do with such brazenness.

He woke up at 4 crying, a full-blown ear infection.

So Augmentin does NOT fall under the whole careful diet, toxin-avoiding path we're trying to forge. One point for deities. But we turned down the meds for weeks when first one doctor and then another commented that he had a slightly red ear, that we could delay medicines as long as he didn't get any worse. Once, LONG before we knew much about the spectrum or much of anything that would later come to pervade our lives, I felt uneasy about giving our boy another antibiotic, and I asked my sister-in-law, a pediatrician in another city, what could happen if we let the infection run its course without treating it with antibiotics. He might get better on his own, she said. He might get worse. Worst case scenarios? Hearing loss. Meningitis. Damage to his brain...

Tomorrow is the first day back to school, and I'd been fantasizing that the rooster's teachers would notice an improved boy, well rested, better regulated, adjusted to his new diet, and ready to talk, play, listen, learn. Tomorrow will, though, also be his first day back to expectations, and he'll be 24 hours into Augmentin. So, I've cast aside my fantasies, and (DEITIES, hear me now) I'll be happy if we all get through the day.

But deities can't move time backward, and they can't do a thing about the great day we had celebrating with Peaches. Not only do I have photos to prove that a good time was had by all, I am actually IN some of them, if you can believe that.

3 comments:

Joeymom said...

Here, we swear by Zithromax. Three days, and it works for the guys. It also avoids the whole amoxicillin-allergy problem with Andy. I know its the new trend not to treat ear infections, but I have NEVER had them get over one on their own.

Nice about the cake, though, and I'm glad the diet is working for you guys. Wish it had worked for us- enough families around here do it, that it wouldn't be that hard to do.

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday Peaches! Glad to hear the day was a success.

And I hope Rooster is feeling better soon. I recently had an ear infection. It was so painful that I'm pretty sure the deities were trying to give me a taste of what the kids go through. We tend to forget as adults how miserable the whole thing can be. Sigh.

Niksmom said...

Yay for a wonderful birthday party for Peaches! As for the ear infection...OUCH. We've spent way too much time with those; they do set Nik back at first but he seems to have a remarkable resilience. Who knows what Rooster may do after 24 hrs on Augmentin. He may surprise you! I hope so. :-)

FWIW, we do gfcf as much as possible with Nik and we did see a difference at first, especially with dairy.