Truth telling
I've learned a valuable lesson in believing one's child, especially when there's no reason for the child to lie. (This story is not for the squeamish.)

A few days ago, I noticed that Claire's cold seemed to be getting better, except her nose. The nasal discharge had thickened and begun to smell bad. She began complaining that her eyebrows hurt. I checked all my medical books, and certain that she had sinusitis, I called for a doctor's appointment. The triage nurse, when she learned that Claire was only 3, asked "are you sure she didn't stick something up her nose?" I assured her, no, surely her nose would hurt if there was something stuck.

So we see the doctor Saturday and when asked about her nose and how it felt, Claire said, "I stuck some tissue up there." The doctor couldn't see anything but mucus, so she figured Claire was just descibing wiping her nose. She wrote a script for antibiotics and sent us home.

Tonight, after Claire had been on antibiotics for over a day, I noticed a marked improvement with one nostril but not the other. But the blocked nostril looked white inside rather than green.

"Did you really put tissue up there?" I asked.

"Yeah Mommy. I had stuffies and I put tissue up there."

"You were trying to clean your nose and the tissue got stuck?"

"Yeah."

Oh Lord. I fetched a pair of tweezers, sterilized them and began a gentle fishing expedition. I pulled out three or four little bits of what looked like facial tissue. Then I got hold of a wad about the size of a shelled pecan. It smelled terrible, but with it gone, the nostril was clear. A quick squirt of Ocean Nasal Spray cleansed her nose more.

Poor kid! If we grownups had only believed her story we could have relieved her pain so much sooner!

Guess I'll be calling the doctor again in the morning. Eight more days of antibiotics to go.