Sunday, August 29, 2010

Of Dinosaur Birthday Parties and the Hunt for Lotrimin


The Physician's Assistant told me I might get some odd looks from the pharmacy, since he was ordering a liquid suspension of Lotrimin that is typically used for Athlete's Foot for Nolan's ear. I went to the pharmacy on Friday afternoon, and the pharmacy technician said the order hadn't been filled yet. Sidenote: killing fifteen minutes in a Rite Aid with two small boys should earn any mother an award.

I returned to the counter and the tech had a big smile on her face. "Oh, no! this isn't a prescription product- it's over the counter!" Even better- I could get the stuff at low cost, and it didn't even need a prescription. I wondered why the PA had warned me about the difficulty of getting the Lotrimin suspension.

Then the tech handed me some Monistat.

"Erm... I know the main ingredient is the same, but we need this in a liquid suspension. It has to go in his ear."

I picked up the box and pointed to the applicator and cream mixture, so that she could see this was a tad different than what our ENT office had ordered. The tech looked flustered and said she needed to confer with the pharmacist.

Another fifteen minutes later, the boys had taken their blood pressure at the free stand about 50 times and the pharmacist came out from behind the counter to troll the aisles of Rite Aid with me. Apparently, the only over-the-counter formulations of Lotrimin are creams. After I convinced him that the creams will not penetrate Nolan's PE tubes to get to the source of the fungal infection in his middle ear, the pharmacist left to consult his Big Book of Medications.

He found the suspension the PA had ordered, and they have it in stock at their warehouse. This is the good news. The bad news? The suspension won't be in the store until Monday afternoon. Sigh...

Fortunately, the infection doesn't seem to be bothering Nolan very much. We had his dinosaur birthday party on Saturday, complete with Funfetti cupcakes, dinosaur pinata, and dinosaur adoption events. Everyone had a blast, and Nolan is finally convinced that he is no longer two years old. Happy third birthday, Nolan!

The dinosaur adoption center

Opening presents

Nolan vs. Tyrannosaurus

7 comments:

Joey Lynn Resciniti said...

I wonder if you're the first parent they've ever instructed to put Monistat in their child's ear. I would hope so. What a fun trip to the pharmacy!

I love the pictures of his birthday. Looks like you all had such a great time!

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Oh my goodness! What a week you've had!

Congrats and happy b'day to Nolan, and a big hurray for the FM!!!

But this infection... I'll be praying for him, surely!

Julie

Melanie said...

Glad you had fun.

Sorry you are having such a problem with his ear. Hope you get those drops this morning!

tammy said...

Just catching up on a lot of blogs and wow, what a week you've had! Great news on getting the FM and a big BOO on his ear infection! Had to laugh at the Monistat line though ... seriously?

and HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY little man! Looked like a fun bday party!

Apraxia Mom said...

Happy Birthday, big guy!

Karen Putz said...

Happy Birthday, Nolan! I laughed at this one!

This was the summer of ear infections for my clan-- highly unusual for us. Doc recommended a mixture of half vinegar and half rubbing alcohol for us.

Amber DBTD said...

Our doc had me use the aerosol version of the lotrimin, but boy was that a terrible idea. Don't know if it burned, or if the annoying sound of it fizzing (I didn't squirt it, I sprayed some into a syringe and put it in that way) bugged him, but he freaked right out and it was not good. We've been sticking to the Ciprodex drops until Jaymes' next ear tube insertion.