To update my last ear pain post, the pain/infection/problem never recurred after continuing the antifungal swabs. I continued for probably 4 more days. She was absolutely fine.
Never filled the prescription from the Dr.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Great First Week of School!
We started back to school last Monday - almost two weeks already!
Demi was VERY ready to go to First Grade. She was excited to tell anyone who would listen.
The first day was exciting for me because she came home with a phrase ("No Homework") written in her papers - and it was legible! She also had a list of spelling words (granted, very easy ones) - only five - that she already knew.
Her special ed teacher (same as last year) was gushing over how much better she was reading now. She has definitely come a long way since last year - but I guess that's true for all "normal" kids. Since Demi's not exactly "normal", it's just amazing to me that she's pretty much at the same level as her peers (just not as independent).
This second week of school has been a little more difficult (90 mins to do her homework on Monday!), but she seems to be getting the concepts in order to keep up. It just takes A LOT of repetition. Her reading is going very well. Math, not so well. Writing, despite the first day excitement, is also going slowly.
In therapy over the summer, her OT has been doing a lot of vestibular stimulation (spinning, crawling with a tennis ball, other exercises). It can sometimes positively impact writing and small motor skills.
We also made a change to her glasses which will hopefully help with the vision issues she seemed to be having last year.
Her speech is gradually becoming clearer, although she still has a long way to go. I would guess that people outside her regular sphere could understand 50% of what she's saying on the first try. Probably 80-90% after asking her to repeat it a few times.
She still takes her supplements every day. Over the summer, I got a bit slack at times (typically when traveling). I noticed behavior changes when she was off them for more than a few days. The changes were mostly decreased attention/increased distractability.
Demi was VERY ready to go to First Grade. She was excited to tell anyone who would listen.
The first day was exciting for me because she came home with a phrase ("No Homework") written in her papers - and it was legible! She also had a list of spelling words (granted, very easy ones) - only five - that she already knew.
Her special ed teacher (same as last year) was gushing over how much better she was reading now. She has definitely come a long way since last year - but I guess that's true for all "normal" kids. Since Demi's not exactly "normal", it's just amazing to me that she's pretty much at the same level as her peers (just not as independent).
This second week of school has been a little more difficult (90 mins to do her homework on Monday!), but she seems to be getting the concepts in order to keep up. It just takes A LOT of repetition. Her reading is going very well. Math, not so well. Writing, despite the first day excitement, is also going slowly.
In therapy over the summer, her OT has been doing a lot of vestibular stimulation (spinning, crawling with a tennis ball, other exercises). It can sometimes positively impact writing and small motor skills.
We also made a change to her glasses which will hopefully help with the vision issues she seemed to be having last year.
Her speech is gradually becoming clearer, although she still has a long way to go. I would guess that people outside her regular sphere could understand 50% of what she's saying on the first try. Probably 80-90% after asking her to repeat it a few times.
She still takes her supplements every day. Over the summer, I got a bit slack at times (typically when traveling). I noticed behavior changes when she was off them for more than a few days. The changes were mostly decreased attention/increased distractability.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Ear Pain Lessened
Still haven't filled the prescription. (See the last ear post.)
The last post was on Monday; it's now Friday.
I got her back on her regular supplements, which include some yeast fighters, although I didn't double up on anything. We ran out of ThreeLac and I've not yet received the new, so she hasn't had that since Tuesday.
Although we have not seen any discharge, her pain continued Tues and Wed. I gave her acetominophen for the pain, every 4-6 hrs or so as she complained vehemently about her ear. The pain woke her up at night Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday morning, I swabbed an antifungal cream into her ear. Something similar to Lotrimin. I swabbed it again Wednesday evening. Wednesday evening, she slept through the night without pain. No pain meds on Thursday. I swabbed again Thurday night. She slept well again Thursday night, with no pain since late Wednesday.
I'll continue the antifungal swabs for another several days to make sure it's gone. Not sure if it was the supplements or the antifungal cream which got it under control. I have used NO ANTIBIOTICS, so it wasn't swimmer's ear as diagnosed by the dr's office.
The last time I used an antifungal cream, we only did it once. The infection seemed to subside immediately, but I didn't believe that was the solution because we only did it ONCE. Yet, this time, the pain seemed to subside relatively quickly once the cream was introduced.
The last post was on Monday; it's now Friday.
I got her back on her regular supplements, which include some yeast fighters, although I didn't double up on anything. We ran out of ThreeLac and I've not yet received the new, so she hasn't had that since Tuesday.
Although we have not seen any discharge, her pain continued Tues and Wed. I gave her acetominophen for the pain, every 4-6 hrs or so as she complained vehemently about her ear. The pain woke her up at night Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday morning, I swabbed an antifungal cream into her ear. Something similar to Lotrimin. I swabbed it again Wednesday evening. Wednesday evening, she slept through the night without pain. No pain meds on Thursday. I swabbed again Thurday night. She slept well again Thursday night, with no pain since late Wednesday.
I'll continue the antifungal swabs for another several days to make sure it's gone. Not sure if it was the supplements or the antifungal cream which got it under control. I have used NO ANTIBIOTICS, so it wasn't swimmer's ear as diagnosed by the dr's office.
The last time I used an antifungal cream, we only did it once. The infection seemed to subside immediately, but I didn't believe that was the solution because we only did it ONCE. Yet, this time, the pain seemed to subside relatively quickly once the cream was introduced.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Bilateral Otoplasty
Another event which has gone unreported was Demi's bilateral otoplasty. Back in April, she underwent a day surgery to have her ears pinned back and rotated slightly.
Before the operation, her ears were significantly cupped (see the darling picture at left). So much so that her hearing aids would not stay on without special straps to keep them in place. There was simply no "behind the ear" there. Without the straps, the hearing aid flapped in the breeze, attached only by the earmold.
Here are some "in between" pictures. After the surgery, they wrapped her head with layers of gauze like a helmet. S
he had to keep that on for three days. After three days, we got a headband to wear over her ears for protection and keep them flattened. I ended up making my own headband, because the pictured option was not the best. 
She wore the headband 24/7 for two weeks, then just at night for another two weeks. (In reality, she wasn't wearing it after the first two weeks, because it inevitably came off during the night.)
Here are the AFTER pictures.
These two pictures were taken just last week and today.
Before the operation, her ears were significantly cupped (see the darling picture at left). So much so that her hearing aids would not stay on without special straps to keep them in place. There was simply no "behind the ear" there. Without the straps, the hearing aid flapped in the breeze, attached only by the earmold.
Here are some "in between" pictures. After the surgery, they wrapped her head with layers of gauze like a helmet. S
he had to keep that on for three days. After three days, we got a headband to wear over her ears for protection and keep them flattened. I ended up making my own headband, because the pictured option was not the best. 
She wore the headband 24/7 for two weeks, then just at night for another two weeks. (In reality, she wasn't wearing it after the first two weeks, because it inevitably came off during the night.)
Here are the AFTER pictures. Do they look normal, unremarkable? Yea!!
These two pictures were taken just last week and today.We "lost" a little bit on the left ear - it's not quite as tightly pinned as the right. But they still look great compared to what they were before. (Take a look back at the BEFORE picture if you don't think so!) We're now 12 weeks post-surgery so they're totally healed with no complications.
The reveal:
Another Ear Infection
Way too long between posts, especially with all the stuff going on.
The latest has to do with those darned slimy ears. This time, we haven't reached the slime stage yet. Demi started complaining yesterday that her ear hurt - RED FLAG. Early this morning, she said it hurt "a little". Later, it was back to "It really hurts!" so I took her in.
Again, they diagnosed an outer ear infection - the standard Swimmer's Ear to be treated with antibiotics. I asked specifically about the fungal infection, but was told it was "unlikely" because she felt pain to the touch, which wasn't characteristic of the fungal infection. He gave me a prescription which contained both an antibiotic and an antifungal in order to cover both possibilities.
Instead of filling the prescription, I'm upping her yeast protocol to see how it works. Because of a trip to the grandparents, a camping trip, and sheer laziness for 4 days, she's been without her ThreeLac for two weeks now. She had been without most of her supplements for four days last week. After everything going smoothly for a while, I start to forget how important certain pieces of the puzzle are.
After the doctor, I immediately gave her two sachets of ThreeLac. She had already gotten SaccB this morning. She complained again that her ear still hurt and went to take a nap. Got up after an hour; it still hurt a lot. Back down after just 5 mins. After another hour, she got up again and said that her ear didn't hurt as much.
If it continues to hurt her, gets worse, starts draining, etc., I'll likely go get the prescription filled before it gets out of hand. If it stops bothering her, I'll continue with the extra ThreeLac and her normal yeast fighters. Hopefully it'll clear up just by getting her back on all of her regular supps.
The latest has to do with those darned slimy ears. This time, we haven't reached the slime stage yet. Demi started complaining yesterday that her ear hurt - RED FLAG. Early this morning, she said it hurt "a little". Later, it was back to "It really hurts!" so I took her in.
Again, they diagnosed an outer ear infection - the standard Swimmer's Ear to be treated with antibiotics. I asked specifically about the fungal infection, but was told it was "unlikely" because she felt pain to the touch, which wasn't characteristic of the fungal infection. He gave me a prescription which contained both an antibiotic and an antifungal in order to cover both possibilities.
Instead of filling the prescription, I'm upping her yeast protocol to see how it works. Because of a trip to the grandparents, a camping trip, and sheer laziness for 4 days, she's been without her ThreeLac for two weeks now. She had been without most of her supplements for four days last week. After everything going smoothly for a while, I start to forget how important certain pieces of the puzzle are.
After the doctor, I immediately gave her two sachets of ThreeLac. She had already gotten SaccB this morning. She complained again that her ear still hurt and went to take a nap. Got up after an hour; it still hurt a lot. Back down after just 5 mins. After another hour, she got up again and said that her ear didn't hurt as much.
If it continues to hurt her, gets worse, starts draining, etc., I'll likely go get the prescription filled before it gets out of hand. If it stops bothering her, I'll continue with the extra ThreeLac and her normal yeast fighters. Hopefully it'll clear up just by getting her back on all of her regular supps.
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