Sore Ear

TLG got some water into his “bad” ear today – past the ear plug he was wearing. (This is the eardrum that never healed up completely after he had ear tubes as a toddler – eventually it will have to be repaired, but it’s not clear yet exactly when that will happen. In the meantime, it acts like he still has a tube–which is good in that it helps him not get completely blocked up when he’s congested.)  This is the second time that’s happened. The first time it was tap water, and it ended up infected. This time it was chlorinated water – so we’ll see. It was really bothering him all day today–I don’t think I’ve seen him this upset about body pain since he was teething.  So we spent most of the day trying alternatively to comfort and distract him.  He seems ok right now – I think most of the water has come out. But I’m still worried we’ll end up at the pede’s again this week for a round of antibiotics. Sigh.

He’s also got a couple of patches on his skin that look like what he had at the very beginning of a truly awful bout of poison ivy. I don’t know where he got into it again, or if he touched something that hadn’t been cleaned since the last round (we never determined a source), but that’s stressing me out too.

I recognize that possible ear infections and poison ivy are minuscule concerns–especially this week.

But I can’t bring myself to write much about what I’ve been reading and thinking about in light of the latest mass shooting in this country. If I started I might not ever stop. Fortunately TLG has not heard anything about it, so we haven’t had to have that conversation with him – and I’m happy to keep it that way for as long as possible. Although given the frequency with which these things are happening, it’s not clear how long that will be.