Folks, I’m delighted to report that his ears are now infection-free. 
He woke up screaming last night, but it turns out it was probably teething pain. The doc says that his ears look normal and healthy. We dodged the bullet this time.
So, in celebration, here is the latest pic thread in MPSIMS!
Thanks to all of you for your kindness and understanding. I was really not in a good way for a couple of weeks there.
Man, I’m glad they can do something better about chronic ear infections now. My mom passed a slight malformation of the eardrums along to us, and we both got ear infections over and over again because (something fluid) liked to collect behind our ear drums - I still got them occasionally even in college. Vynce got tubes at about the same age as Ogreling and it stopped the infections.
Tubes didn’t seem to be an option yet when I was little, so I was given lots and lots of tetracycline before age four, which they no longer allow small children to be given. So my teeth are permanently discolored (I have veneers over the worst of the spots), and I’ve had tinnitus since I’ve been old enough to remember which seems somewhat ironic, and according to some sources my bones will glow in the dark under the right lights which is kind of neat. But hey, at least I didn’t die of an ear infection like one of my mom’s doctor’s siblings did.
Anyway, I’m very glad that from the 80s on little guys like Orgeling don’t have to worry about the long term effects of ear infections they won’t even remember.
Boo teething pain! But YAY for no ear infections!
Is Ogreling old enough to take liquid ibuprofen? IME, it’s more effective against pain and fever than liquid acetaminophen.
I guess they didn’t do tubes yet when I was a kid, but I had so many middle ear infections that after the gallons of amoxicillin I finally was sent to have the tonsils and adenoids yanked. not a single ear infection after that.
though I also have mild tinnitus in both ears, kind of a low-grade 11 kHz tone or thereabouts.
I’m glad the Ogerling is feeling better… except for those teeth.
Oooooooh yes. Ibuprofen is the Good Stuff. It brings him almost instant relief (I mean INSTANT; he usually stops crying within about 10 seconds. It’s uncanny.)
Has this thread passed into MPSIMS territory? 
I was feeling extremely Pitty when I posted the OP, but it seems that the ship has sailed.
FWIW I found that a half-dose each of ibuprofen and acetaminophen was more effective than a full dose of either for teething pain. My pediatrician and pharmacist both assured me this is perfectly safe, and that we could even go as far as a full dose of ech, though I only had to do that once for a really high fever.
Also, frozen waffles are great. Cut them into strip so it’s easy to fit them back to the molars.
My son had tw ear infections before he was two. They were bad, he was hospitalized (mainly because he had other underlying conditions and his temperature stayed above 39 C for days) but they were sort of isolated incidents.
But his speech delay was noticable. I kept telling the therapists and so forth to “test his hearing” (I had ear infections, hearing deficit, and needed tubes) But the powers that be insisted his hearing was fine because he had been tested at birth and it was fine.
Then one May morning when he was two and a half we were out at the camp (cottage, summer house, whatever) and the boy woke up (r am) and would not stop crying. Not cuddles with mom, not juice (screamed NO! loud and clear at the offer of any food or drink) I could not figure out what he wanted, he only had about 10 words. VRRRRm meant car ride. He kept saying VRRRm.
Then while rocking him over and over something sticky and wet dripped onto my wrist. In the light I discovered this mess of pus and blood and serous fluid. His ear drum had burst.
Into town, into the ER, gets a massive amount of antibiotics, a page to the ENT, some debridement and packing, and in two days he is having a tube placed in the ear that hadn’t burst. 6 weeks later the other ear was done.
In the hospital on the way home from tube #2 my son suddenly said “Wow, Mommy car singing.”
By the end of the weekend he was talking non stop. By the end of summer his speech tested at a 4 year old level *he wasn’t three yet) and now sometimes I WISH he would quiet down.
Tubes rock, and they change lives.
Speaking of - My wife just called from the kids’ ENT. Both of Spike’s tubes are now out, and the ENT wants to put one back in, and remove his adenoids. With his repeated sinus infections, I figured the adenoids were going to be coming out sooner or later, but I though he had another year.
This is on top of hearing from Squeaky’s ophthalmologist that he’s going to need to start wearing an eyepatch and needs glasses (at 21 months). At least his crossed eye doesn’t need surgery… yet.
Grumble grumble. We opted for the cheaper insurance with less coverage this year, because everyone had already had tubes put in. No one else is allowed to get sick.