  Yesterday I took Ellie in, bowing to the pressures to treat strep with an antibiotic... or so I thought. I had waited three days, which was the best middle ground I could find. In Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child , I read about a study that suggested waiting three days before seeking the antibiotics for strep allowed the body to build enough of an immune response to lesson subsequent strep infections, without increasing the risk of complications such as rheumatic fever. As it turned out, Ellie tested negative on the quick test. Since I'd read the in-office rapid strep test had a 20% false negative rate, I asked the doctor if he wanted to culture for the longer test.
He said no, that he'd examine her for other causes of the fever first, at which time he discovered she has an ear infection. I was so surprised! And relieved! If only I had an ottoscope at home, I could have known that without dragging her into the office, paying the co-pay, and acquiring a nice eye bacteria myself. This was not Dr. Ho, since he was out of town, but rather his associate Dr. Klein. I now know that Dr. Ho's greatest weakness is his associate, Dr. Klein. I don't trust this guy a bit. Now I'm worried that we'll encounter a more serious medical issue someday when Dr. Ho isn't available and I'll be stuck with Klein instead. He's--how to say it politely?--older, which would be nice considering his experience, except he apparently hasn't kept up to date with the new advances in medicine.
Plus, he's a misogynist, crotchety, southern man who almost visibly wrinkled his nose upon walking in the room and seeing me nursing. Dr. Klein was about to recommend antibiotics when I said I'd rather give her body a chance to fight the ear infection on its own. He was surprised, but said I was her mother, I could do anything I want, "just don't call me on Sunday when you change your mind.
" Don't worry, I wouldn't call you ever, for anything. admittedly, at home, Ellie's high fever persists and I'm worried. This morning I did a little research in an effort to soothe myself and was happy to find urlLink this study , which indicates Ellie is borderline between the traditional medicine's current standpoint on whether to treat an ear infection or let it run its course. She has one of the three big problem symptoms--high fever, vomiting, and cough--and the study recommends antibiotics for children showing two of the three. Funny that they don't mention the presence or absence of pain, which doesn't seem to be a big deal for her at all. Chief among my concerns is our intended trip to NM, where we'll be far from the standards of emergency medical care found in Houston. I don't know how I've come to feel this way. When I was growing up we never worried about such a thing because our home rural hospital hardly set a bar. Taos county's hospital or even Vernon, TX's hospital would be an improvement. If we are really going to raise our children between Houston and Taos, I have to get over this. So now I've gone full circle from fearing strep because I didn't want to give her antibiotics (napalm), to being thrilled that she didn't have said strep and had an ear infection instead, to fearing the ear infection because I don't want her to have antibiotics.
I remember Saturday applauding her crazy bath antics, fearlessly splashing into the water head first. In my reconstruction of events, she must have had a mild immune reaction to the vaccines, thus swelling her ear canals and making possible the stagnation that brought this infection on. In an effort to speed drainage, I'm using two massages: pressing my palm over her whole ear and making circles, and rubbing the line between the back of her ear to her jaw bone. She's not eating, but she's still nursing like a champ, so I'm eating every healthy thing I can. After all this, you know the craziest news? John has a fever. 
