Had the worst week last week with our 4 year old girl. At the weekend we knew she was coming dowm with something. Feverish, roasting hot, complaining of a sore ear. Genral grumpiness. She had an ear infection, we knew. On Monday we took her to the doctor. The doctor looked her over and said, yep, ear infection. But no antibiotics unless the ear is weeping or if the kid is under 2 years old. So we took her home with orders to dose her up on calpol and calprofen.
Wednesday comes and my wife sees pus running freely from the ear. Back to the doctor and this guy says that it was a middle ear infection. The build up of pus burst her ear drum, causing the pus to leak (which it did for about 3 days). So now, on her left side, her hearing will be impaired for up to 8 weeks while the eardrum repairs itself. Can't help but to think if the first doc gave her antibiotics, she would have been spared not just the pain of the ear infection, but the burst drum, too.