I know you have a medical degree, but..

I have a hard time disagreeing with doctors. They are supposed to be the experts. I have put my trust in them to help heal me or my children, and I expect them to do just that.

Gabriel is battling his third sinus infection so far this year. He is an unusual case because he doesn't seem to have allergies or a cold or anything, but then all of a sudden he will just wake up really sick. He runs low-grade fever, has a perpetual runny nose and usually wakes up complaining several times during the night that his mouth hurts, which we now think means his throat due to drainage. He almost stops eating and doesn't want to play like normal, and just really seems to feel lousy.

I would be able to accept perpetual colds, because that's part of having little kids. But he never just has a cold, he always has infections, and then has to take antibiotics to get rid of it. Last time the antibiotic tore up his stomach and we had to stop giving it to him early. I don't want him to end up developing a resistance against antibiotics in case he ever needs them for something more serious. But they seem to be the only thing to help make him well. So I would like to find out why this keeps happening, and what we should be doing to prevent it in the future, if there is such a remedy for a three-year-old with invisible allergies. I suggested to our pediatrician that maybe Gabriel might need to see a specialist. This took much courage from me.

And of course, it didn't go over very well. He said that a specialist probably wouldn't be able to do any more for him than he does, but if I really wanted to see one, he would refer me. So I guess I stepped on his doctor toes. And now I imagine that I'm on some "trouble-making parent" list at the reception desk.

In the meantime, we are on day 5 of whatever this is, and now Joel has it. So maybe it is just a cold this time. Nothing is more pathetic than a baby with a stuffed up nose and bad cough. You just want to breath for them. Joel had two horrible nights in which Gabriel was the only one to get any sleep, then out of the blue last night he slept for hours at a time with no sign of congestion or cough. I thought it had gone away, but it was back this morning. And Jav left for a two day work training trip this morning. We're back on Grandparent Mode!