A Zero Pain In The Ear

Aw geez. I meant to tell you all how PG's follow-up appointment at the ENT went, on the day that she actually went to see him. But I guess we'll just have to settle for an update four days late.

She's good now, but she does have to take a spray of Nasonex (bee not included) up both nostrils every night until winter is over. According to PG's ENT, winter ends in May, so it'll be another few months of nightly Nasonexing. On the plus side, PG does not mind having stuff sprayed up her nose, so at least it won't be a painful few months. In that regard, anyway.

In The Key of Tire Flat

So, yeah. My front passenger side tire went flat sometime between Thursday morning and Friday night last week.

On Saturday, I pulled the ol' girl into the driveway to change it. The lug nuts came off as easy as you please, but the tire itself wouldn't budge at all. I didn't have any WD40, but I did have olive oil, so I tried that. I don't think I need to tell you whether or not that actually worked. I kicked the hell out of it and got nowhere. It was a bit troubling since I would eventually have to get the car somewhere to have the flat fixed, and driving on a flat tire is not what one would call a "good idea." So while we were out for dinner, in the car with four inflated tires, I got some WD40, hoping that would be all I needed.

The next day, my next door neighbor got involved. It turned out to be my lucky day. He knew of places to spray the WD40 that I wouldn't have thought of, and he had an air pump in case the tire really was going to stay on until I got it to the tire place. At the time, it was looking like the pump would come in handy, because lubing things up and hitting the tire with a mallet, which my neighbor also lent me, wasn't doing me any good.

I went inside to get something, when I heard my neighbor pounding on the tire with the mallet. By the time I had gotten outside, the tire was loose and ready to make room for the spare. So, in review, a 50 or 60-something year old man could hit the tire hard enough to loosen it, but I couldn't. You think I'll be working out more often now? You bet I am.

Took the car in today to get the tire fixed, which only involved removing a 3-inch screw from the tread and patching it up. It cost me a whopping $0 to get it done.

Well, I suppose the whole ordeal cost me $4, which is what I paid for the WD40.

A Minor Pain In The Ear, Then

Missed two days in a row. This is why it's not called PoEvDaMo.

Took PG to the ENT a week early, because she was acting really fussy, and so far that's been a harbinger of her ear infection getting worse. Twice in the past month, in fact.

But, to paraphrase Freud, sometimes a fussy girl is just a fussy girl. The good ear is still good, and the bad ear is about 90% cleared up. PG has her last doses of antibiotics tomorrow, and that, hopefully, will be that for a while. She's still going to her originally scheduled ENT appointment on Thursday to make sure that's true!

A Real Pain In The Ear

I see, from the post below yesterday's, that I haven't put anything up since mid-December, back when blizzards were something I could dodge. That would be the longest hiatus this blog has seen. So thanks for that, Facebook.

So, PrettyGirl has another persistent ear infection, one that may or may not be finally getting under control. This will probably be an annual January-March ritual, until the inevitable introduction of ear tubes. Can't wait.

Her doctor thought that the first round of antibiotics had done the job, but prescribed another 10 days of it to "mop up." A week later, PG was fingering her ear and running around with a hair-trigger temper again, so it was back to the doctor's office to find that one ear was A-OK and the other ear was "A Mess." Lots of swelling and a possible ruptured eardrum. Yee-haw! So, more powerful antibiotics for PG (Augmentin, I believe) and an appointment with an Ear Nose and Throat specialist on March 11.

PG loved the first antibiotics, so getting her to take them was easy as pie (and, I suppose, tasty as pie too.) The new stuff got less favorable reviews. At first taste, PG announced that it was "icky," and we had to hold her head still and do an end run around her clenched jaw by putting the dropper in her cheek to get her to take 'em. Unlike the yummy meds, this stuff has to be given twice a day. So we had good times after breakfast and dinner this past weekend.

Then we sent PG off to daycare with her meds on Monday, so she could take them after breakfast. She came home that night perfectly content to drink down however much we wanted to give her after dinner. Now she makes sure to tell us beforehand that "They're not icky." I don't know what they said to her Monday morning, but it seems to have worked like a charm. I am, however, a little concerned she's also saying that her teacher is "the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life."

I joke, of course.

PoMoOftMo 2K10!

It's time for another Post More Often Month. Except this time, I'll be taking the NaBloPoMo route (more or less) and will be posting something every day in March. Except March 1st, in which I forgot to post anything. And I suppose today, the 2nd, doesn't count for much, since I just remembered to post something as I was about to shut down the computer for the night. So I'm tacking on April 1 and 2 to the end of this, to balance things out.

Time will tell how successful I am.