To the makers of the antibiotic Augmentin:Why on God’s green earth can’t you make a chewable form of your medicine? Or my gosh, at least a liquid that doesn’t taste like cut up pine needles soaked in gasoline!

(Ok, so no, I’ve never tried that….but that is how this smells!)

Over night, Hubby was rocking punky back to sleep and I walked in to heck in on them…and Punky was holding his ears saying, “Mommy, owie!” So, I ran downstairs and called into the 24 hour nurse line to beg for an appointment with the “Super Secret Pediatrics Weekend Urgent Care.” I won. I explained that my son’s doctor told us never to see anyone in urgent care and to make an appointment with him (this was all last spring as we went through 5 ear infections in a few short months!). I got an appointment at 8:40…….

We went to our appointment. Both ears are infected…..the right worse than the left. She explained that she wasn’t comfortable sending us away with the typical home remedies and to wait for itself to clear up…..she said the one ear looked really bad. So, she asked us how we’d like the antibiotic….liquid or chewable. [Thank you, God, for listening to my prayers the past few days as we have struggled with getting Punky to take any medicine this week…..Motrin…….Dimetapp, etc] I chose chewable with a grin on my face! 🙂 Life will get easier at home!

She went to write the prescription for amoxicillin and I stopped her. “Our doctor told us not to mess with amoxicillin as there was one antibiotic that worked for Punky last spring….” She looked it up, and it was Augmentin…..so she placed the order with our pharmacy.

We went to Walgreens to pick it up. As we were gathering our bags and receipt, the pharmacist said, “Don’t forget to keep that chilled and take it with food..”

What?  “Isn’t this a chewable form?”

“Nope, Augmentin doesn’t come in chewable.”

Ugh.

So, we head home. We try finishing up breakfast and try to give Punky the medicine. Yes, he spits it right back out and shudders wincing grotesquely. He then raspberries his lips so whatever might have been left in his mouth has now been sprayed all over himself, the furniture, the carpet and Hubby.

Nice.

So, I try to call the nurse line again and see what my options are. My kid has to take this for 10 days! I am on hold and I hear celebratory cheers downstairs. Hubby got him to swallow the medicine……and keep it down! So they were heading downstairs to play. I hung up.

Several hours later, it is now time to take dose #2. We fight and squirm with him and he is screaming, “No ma-e-sin” [No, medicine!] After 10 minutes of trying to talk him into this…..we go upstairs. He has decided to take the medicine, so he can have a chocolate Santa (from his Stocking). [Please don’t call Parenting magazine and report us!] So, in goes the medicine…he tries to swallows….and proceeds to gag, choke, and throw up his dinner all over himself and his father! [Thanks for holding him, Hubby!] I stood there with my mouth wide open! What?!?!

So, I call the nurse line, and they tell me to try to get him to take it….mix it with peanutbutter, eat a popsicle….numb his taste buds….blah blah blah. The kid knows what the medicine bottle looks like! And he knows what it tastes like!

I walked downstairs to check on the “Barf Boys” and hype up chocolate shakes….(to mask that god awful medicine) and Punky is interested! So, I head upstairs, and make shakes out of Hubby’s DQ birthday cake (you know the yummy kind with the chocolate crunchy layer in the middle?) I poured all of us our respective cups…I even made Punky a Mini-straw for his little cup. (I didn’t want to add too much shake to his meds so that he wouldn’t drink it all up, but yet I had to make sure that taste was hidden…..ick!)

Down went the shake….all but a last few sips. I was happy with that. Poor guy.

What the heck are we going to do for the next 18 doses we have coming up?!?!?!?!?