Happy New Year!

We have been looking forward to a fresh start of 2011 for the last month or so of 2010.

Kara has had a lingering cough for a few weeks now, needing to be nebbed occassionally. Yesterday morning, New Years Day, her cough seemed to be worsening. By noon she was in bad shape and stayed that way through the rest of the day. We nebbed her over and over again and she'd cough until she'd throw up. By 9:00 last night the nebs weren't helping and she was getting worse so we made the decision to head to the ER. While waiting, Kara coughed and coughed, almost puking again. By the time the doctor came in to listen to her, her lungs were cleared. (go figure!) He checked her over and looked in one ear - bright red, infected. Hmm. Other ear, same story. She's never had an ear infection so this shocked me but certainly explains a lot.

She was put on antibiotics and with that, comes the fear of how she'll handle them. We have two doses in and side effects are already beginning. Hopefully she won't continue to go downhill from here. Sometimes it's a fine line to weigh out risks versus benefits.