The $2000 ear infection

You might recall me mentioning Aimee's ruptured eardrum on the day we went to Papago Park. That was the start of it all. The funny thing is, she had never mentioned before that day anything about her ear hurting. It will be 2 full months this week since her ruptured eardrum and she still has her ear infection. She initially went to urgent care and was started on eardrops. When that didn't clear it up, we went back to an after-hours clinic at her pediatrician's office and she was put on an oral antibiotic. After 10 days, it still wasn't gone so we went back to her pediatrician's again and this time was put on a different oral antibiotic AND eardrops. The doctor was at least wise enough to start the referral process so she could see an ENT. Sure enough, those two didn't do the trick and we were on our way to the ENT. By the time she saw the ENT, her ear canal was full of infection-- all the way to the end of her ear canal. The ENT vacuumed the infection out of her ear canal and put her on some eye drops to put in her ear. After 3 days, I could tell it wasn't working and we went back in to get the infection suctioned out again since the ear canal was completely full. The ENT added a different oral antibiotic to her list and sent us on our way. A week later, we were back in his office...this time I was getting pretty upset and frustrated at the whole situation. Not once did anyone ever do a culture after the failed treatments. I was not happy about the extended antibiotics and the constant guesswork. I am sure he could tell I was just a little frustrated. He finally did a culture. Sadly, she had been on so many different antibiotics that it created what he called a "sterile environment" so the culture wouldn't grow anything. He suctioned her ear out yet again and put her on a different ear drop, basically a $250 glorified vinegar mix. This one actually seems to be doing something, or at least preventing it from getting worse. We went back after a week and the ear canal looked a ton better, but we could tell it was not completely gone. She gets to see him again in another week after being on these drops for 14 days and we will see where she is at then.

I have never had this much of a problem with an ear infection. ever! The doctors kept telling me how important it was to keep it completely dry and when the treatments failed they were trying to accuse me of getting it wet...as if the continued infection was my fault. I am positive that I never let it get wet. Silly doctors...sometimes their education gets in the way of logical thinking. ;-)

The tally for this ear infection's expense:
-7 doctor visits (so far, at least 1 more to come): approx $130 each
-3 oral antibiotics: average $100 each (2 generic, 1 brand name)
-4 ear drops: anywhere from $40-$250
Totaling it all up, we come to just under $2000, not including the remaining appointments or any other treatments if these drops to completely clear it up. Thank goodness for health insurance!