The good news is Emma’s ears look fine. The bad news is her throat is a little red and evidently strep continues to make its way through the New York City schools. So we had yet another strep test done. The immediate results were negative, but we’ll know more today or tomorrow once the culture has had a chance to grow. So Emma is staying home today on the off chance she does have strep and so she won’t needlessly contaminate her fellow students.
As I write this, Emma is leaping around the living room singing, while waving a thin strip of plastic around like some sort of experimental ribbon dance. Every now and again she stops and stands very still while twirling the plastic around and around, seemingly mesmerized by it only to continue jumping, singing and dancing a few minutes later.
It’s impossible to know what Emma is thinking or feeling. I watch her and make assumptions, much as I did yesterday regarding her ears, only to find that perhaps she has strep. I think I’ve said this before, but autism throws all maternal instincts right out the window. Whenever I think I have an idea of what’s going on with Emma I am almost consistently proven wrong. She complains of her ears, look at her throat. She complains of her ears, I suspect her throat (pride myself in being a quick learner) and it turns out it’s her ears. It’s as though there’s some sort of “Emma’s Law” out there, whatever I think is going on – I’ll be wrong. You think you’ve figured this out? Ha!
Yesterday I did what many parents do when confounded by their child’s ill health. I went to the internet and googled – ear pressure, ear popping and a number of other things. All of which was fine until I read about a troubling condition some children are afflicted with called – Blocked Eustachian Tube – a decongestant was recommended followed by a visit to the doctor and Barotrauma, the only suggestion being a doctor’s visit. Emma’s pediatrician didn’t mention either of these things. But now I’m convinced Emma has some horrific condition which will only be remedied with invasive procedures, possibly surgery and I’m traveling for work tomorrow, so it’ll be up to Richard to cope with all of this in my absence. No one has said any of this to me, these are the conclusions I have come to after going onto the Internet for an hour.
All of which is to say – I must avoid the internet when it comes to diagnosing my child’s ear problems.
Emma's Hope Book 
Is it possible that Emma does feel the pain in her throat, but she doesn’t know how to explain its location? Maybe all head locations to her are either eyes or ears..
Just a thought from One Who Loves You.
That is exactly what the pediatrician said. They are all related. Though the ear issue does seem to be some sort of pressure in or near her ears as she says – “Ears popping” & “Unplug ears!” in a desperate sounding voice. Her pediatrician did another ear test when she was last there, which measured the pressure and all was normal. We aren’t sure what to do at this point. Her ears continue to bother her and were still bothering her this morning.