So when my kids get sick I never worry much about seeing a Dr because I know good old Dr PJ is always there and will always do the right thing by us.
Except on weekends. If the kids get sick on weekends then I get grumpy. Our Dr works weekdays only so on weekends we find ourselves at after hours GP's. And I think most people will agree when I say the Drs at after hours surgeries are slightly dodgy most of the time.
On Sunday my Mr4 had an afternoon nap and woke up grumpy. That in itself not so unusual. But by 4pm he was screaming in pain. He had an earache. We had to cut Miss5's play at the park short, come home and head to an after hours GP.
By the time we got there Mr4 was screaming so badly we actually got bumped up the queue. Instead of the 1 hour minimum wait we only waited for 20 minutes.
It was quite clear to us that his ear was pretty badly infected. The Dr however said his right ear was infected but to take him home, give him panadol and 'the body will heal itself.' Now I don't know about you but I've NEVER heard of someone having an ear infection and not being given antibiotics to help. I've always been told ear infections can be pretty nasty and if not treated lead to lasting damage.
Being the only Dr available we didn't have much choice but to leave and bad mouth him to ourselves in the car.
That night Mr4 went to bed at 7pm as usual. He seemed to be sleeping quite peacefully. We had been keeping up with panadol and hoped it would last him the night.
However 12:30am he woke up calling out for his daddy. Which is pretty normal because if he needs help to go to the toilet or change his bed after an accident that's what he does. By the time he was done in the toilet he was screaming about his ears. So hubby went and slept with him and calmed him down. By 1:30am he was up again, still screaming. By 2am Mr4 was in bed with us, still crying and moaning in pain. By 4am we were sitting up (because the nurse told us sitting is better than laying with an ear infection) with the heater blasting watching 'How To Train Your Dragon' trying to distract him from the pain. We had all the pillows blankets and cushions out all three of us snuggled up on the couch.
I tried to convince hubby to go have a nap while Mr4 was quiet, but he wasn't leaving his boy.
Finally Mr4 was calming down, we had kept to exactly 4 hourly doses of panadol, he was also wearing his beanie to keep the cold air out.
By 5:30am we had the movie playing for the second time and we were all exhausted.
6am hubby had to get ready for work and I left Mr4 settled on the couch to drop hubby off.
By 7am Mr4 was feeling great (after about 5 doses of panadol!!!) but the rest of us were looking and feeling like bloody zombies!!
I booked an appointment to see our own GP and we dropped Miss5 at school for the day.
Dr PJ said to me that Mr4 had an ear infection not only in his right ear but his left ear was worse! (What?!? The Dr last night didn't mention his left ear at all) I explained we had been told just panadol and that we were up all night because he was in such bad pain. "Well I'm not surprised, that left ear is under a LOT of pressure." It sounded to us like things could have been a whole lot worse if we listened to the first Dr!
By yesterday afternoon Mr4 had finally had his first dose of antibiotics. But he was still looking pretty bad. He missed our usual Monday arvo play at the park, he fell asleep in the car and would not wake up. He slept through school pick up, play at the park and Miss5's dancing class. Poor Miss5 was sent in the door with a kiss and I had to sit in the car with her brother while he slept and occasionally screamed in pain. It was horrible to see him in so much pain.
I couldn't help thinking 'if only the first Dr gave us medicine, he would have had 4 doses by now and be almost 100% better'
After 24 hours of constant panadol and 2 doses of antibiotics Mr4 slept soundly last night...and so did we!!
Sometimes I think Drs these days are just lazy. They want to take the easiest path and they don't seem to REALLY care about their patients the way they used to.
I'm so glad we have our Dr PJ, the kids love him, he always makes them better and he giggles along at all our madness too! I can honestly say I'm going to miss him like crazy when we move to Tom Price.
Although I'm sure when we make trips to the city the kids will give us a reason to go and visit him-just for old times sake!
Asleep in the car with Igor his special teddy
During Miss5's dancing class he woke up screaming so he slept on my belly, in the car-not even slightly comfy!! You can see his tears on my T-shirt :-(
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