What’s wrong little Pookie?

A few weeks ago, I stopped into the library when I had a few minutes to kill before an interview.   I headed to the children’s section to pick out a couple of books for Gabriel and discovered What’s Wrong Little Pookie? by Sandra Boynton.  It’s a cute book, and ever since then, I’ve been referring to Gabriel as “Pookie” almost as often as I call him Sir.

Anyhow, two weeks ago, I took Pookie to the doctor for his twelve-month “well baby” visit.  I use quotes here because a few hours before the appointment, he had a massive diarrhea explosion that was the prelude to a four-day gastrointestinal bug, and, when we saw the doctor, we found out that his ear infection, diagnosed at a sick visit two-and-a-half weeks prior, had not cleared, despite the antibiotic.

This was his second diagnosed ear infection, but the previous one, back in February, was mild and cleared without antibiotics.  With the news that the first-line drug hadn’t knocked out this infection, along with the fact that he had lots of fluid in both ears, my mind immediately spiraled to a series of infections with progressively stronger, nastier antibiotics, culminating in tubes for my poor little Pookie.

We had our follow-up visit yesterday, and I held my breath as the doctor looked in Gabriel’s ears and declared that not only had the infection cleared, but both ears were completely free of fluid already (something he had not expected, as the fluid can often take quite awhile to drain from little ears — hence the infection issue in the first place).

I restrained myself from doing a happy dance right then and there.  While the antibiotics no doubt worked on the infection, I credit the warm compresses that I applied to his ears while nursing (and perhaps the milk itself) with really sealing the deal.

Of course, his clean bill of health meant that he received his postponed twelve-month shots, so  in addition to the immediate pain, he woke up this morning with a bit of a fever.  I’m hoping that abates soon and we’ll have a happy, healthy little Pookie.