We’ve been so thankful that two healthy beautiful little girls spend their quality time with us. This past weekend though, all of that was drawn into question when we realized that our youngest, Sage, wasn’t hearing. We did the normal “try to scare the &*$# out of your daughter”: snap in her ear, play music next to her head, and sneak up on her making noises. None of it did any good-Sagey couldn’t hear us. First, we did what many people would do in this situation - we freaked out. We wracked our heads thinking back to see if there were any signs. Of course there were and yet we justified them, “Sagey is independent,” we would say, “She’s focused on something else,” or even, “She’s ignoring us on purpose.” There were many excuses we used over the past few months to explain why Sage wasn’t responding to us. However, with month 11 drawing nearer and nearer and Sage not acknowledging her name, we realized what Sage has probably known for a long time, she can’t hear. This was followed by long periods of silence, and then long conversations of what ifs, until a game plan was finally decided upon. We’d start at the beginning-a hearing test with a specialist and then move forward from there.
We have been incredibly fortunate to have a close friend whose husband is an ENT. He was available to see us on Sunday to check Sage’s hearing. Our fears were not laid to rest-Sagey’s ears were definitely not working properly. However from there, the good news was that she has a massive middle ear infection-well not one, but both ears are infected. This means that with medication (and a lot of it) her hearing will hopefully be restored. Sagey was put on an aggressive antibiotic with strict orders to take it four times a day for two weeks. Hopeful that all would be well, we returned home.
While giving Sagey the dreaded meds (she detests them) I noticed that we had enough meds for 3 days. Hmmm. . .perhaps there was some sort of miscommunication, I had thought she was supposed to take them for two weeks. I called and was told, yes, she was to take them for two weeks. Confusion really set in at this point. Finally, the dispensing of antibiotics in Taiwan was explained to me. The national insurance company allows you to pick up three days of antibiotics at a time. This means, I will have to return to the pharmacy to refill the antibiotics Sage needs every three days. I will not be provided an entire course at once. This also explains why every time I have been given antibiotics, the doctor reminds me I am supposed to take ALL of them. I thought the girls had been, now I’ve learned otherwise. Our poor darling daughters have had three different prescriptions, and yet have never finished a course because I was unaware of the Taiwanese laws regarding the dispensing of medication.
So, two weeks worth of medication, 5 trips to the pharmacy and hopefully, our daughter will hear again. Lesson learned-if you live in Taiwan the first prescription given is probably just the beginning of a long course and many trips to the doctor.
We have been incredibly fortunate to have a close friend whose husband is an ENT. He was available to see us on Sunday to check Sage’s hearing. Our fears were not laid to rest-Sagey’s ears were definitely not working properly. However from there, the good news was that she has a massive middle ear infection-well not one, but both ears are infected. This means that with medication (and a lot of it) her hearing will hopefully be restored. Sagey was put on an aggressive antibiotic with strict orders to take it four times a day for two weeks. Hopeful that all would be well, we returned home.
While giving Sagey the dreaded meds (she detests them) I noticed that we had enough meds for 3 days. Hmmm. . .perhaps there was some sort of miscommunication, I had thought she was supposed to take them for two weeks. I called and was told, yes, she was to take them for two weeks. Confusion really set in at this point. Finally, the dispensing of antibiotics in Taiwan was explained to me. The national insurance company allows you to pick up three days of antibiotics at a time. This means, I will have to return to the pharmacy to refill the antibiotics Sage needs every three days. I will not be provided an entire course at once. This also explains why every time I have been given antibiotics, the doctor reminds me I am supposed to take ALL of them. I thought the girls had been, now I’ve learned otherwise. Our poor darling daughters have had three different prescriptions, and yet have never finished a course because I was unaware of the Taiwanese laws regarding the dispensing of medication.
So, two weeks worth of medication, 5 trips to the pharmacy and hopefully, our daughter will hear again. Lesson learned-if you live in Taiwan the first prescription given is probably just the beginning of a long course and many trips to the doctor.
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