Whenever your kids have a meltdown because they can’t have an extra piece of candy, or because you asked them to pick up their play-doh, or because putting on their shoes (slip-on kind) is such an overwhelming task…. If you’re anything like me, you roll your eyes and sarcastically comment to yourself, “It must be REALLY hard to be 3!” (or whatever the respective age of the Whiner may be).
This past week, I’ve kind of been compelled to eat my words. Turns out, it might be harder to be a kid than I thought.
We visited my husband’s family in Arkansas for the holidays and about halfway through our trip, my ear plugged up. I was mildly annoyed. Then it started to throb with pain, which led me to become increasingly… distraught.
I filled myself up with sinus meds and attempted to sleep it off. Eventually I awoke, due to feeling like an atom bomb had exploded in my eardrum. I stumbled into the kitchen to find Chris. He said, “How are you feeling?” and I started bawling… in front of his whole family. Now, I’m not a big crier and it usually only occurs if God is touching my heart, or if I’m dying. This crying was due to the latter.
On the 30 minute drive to MedExpress, I deliriously hypothesized about my diagnosis. “It’s just an ear infection,” I said. “They’ll just give me Amoxicillan like they do for the kids,” I said. “I’ll be all better in 24-hours, just like the kids,” I said.
Ha.
The doctor looked in my ear and, being the master of understatement, said, “Looks a little tender in there.” He then gave me 5 prescriptions: everything from antibiotics to steroids to ear drops (valued at $130). I was starting to realize that my dreams of being right as rain in 24-hours might be shooting a little high.
And a week later? I’m still not right as rain. Oh, the pain is gone (Thank You Jesus), but my ear has apparently decided to remain permanently stopped up, dizziness has become normal, and I’d really prefer to go to bed at 8:30 pm each night. Not to mention the never ending ear drops, which I wouldn’t exactly call pleasant.
Seriously, this whole ear infection thing is not the quick heal my kids played it up to be. If I’d known it was this rough, I’d have given them a little more respect. Like I said, maybe it’s harder being a kid than I thought.
