What *is* that in there?!?

Those of you who are on facebook will have seen my commentary on this week's events. For those who aren't, here's a summary.

Last Friday 18th May, during lunch, Kaelen suddenly cried out, "My ear! My ear! It hurts!" and burst into genuine tears, indicating pain slightly behind and below his right ear. Wow, that's never happened before! It seemed to settle down, but I decided to look in his ears anyway, to see if i could see anything that might be causing pain. In the right ear, all I could see was a giant ball of wax that's been there for quite some time but was now positioned quite close to where his hearing aid would sit. Not terribly helpful, for many reasons, not the least of which including the fact that I couldn't see any further into the ear!

Looking in the left ear gave me quite a surprise. I wish I'd been able to take a photo of what i saw, but despite all my technology i couldn't make it happen. There was a *thing* in there, a UFO, an Unidentifiable Foreign Object. Small, obviously, cos it was in his ear - but with a clear shape to it. Looked like plastic, but hard to tell with an untrained eye. Whatever it was, I was pretty sure it didn't belong there, and probably should come out as soon as possible. There was no way I was going to attempt to remove it as it was a long way in, and virtually occluding the eardrum. So I made a Dr's appointment for that afternoon, hoping we could deal with it quickly.

Because I just wanted *any* appointment, I didn't care which Dr we saw - our Medical Centre has 6-8 Dr's available - so we did not see our usual GP. Sometimes I wonder about the quality of otoscopes the GP's use, cos the Dr we saw on Fri afternoon diagnosed Swimmer's Ear infection (because the ear was moist, and should have dried out since swimming that morning) and prescribed drops. I thought that was a tad unusual, but was in some way relieved that it was apparently simpler than I thought.

We used the drops, I'll confess slightly intermittently, over the weekend, and waved Daddy goodbye on Sunday night for a 2-week working stint in South Australia. On Monday night, before I put the drops in, I thought I'd take another look in this left ear and see how it was progressing...after all, if it was an infection I should see some change, either due to the use or lack of drops.

No change. Still looked exactly the same as Friday lunch. Hmmm.

Now I'm pretty convinced we don't have Swimmer's Ear, and that Fri's Dr either didn't want to deal with it or really had no idea what he was looking at...or had such a poor otoscope that it genuinely looked like an infection to him. Must ring Dr's again in the morning for a 2nd opinion, aim for our usual GP this time.

Tuesday is Kindy day, but I manage to secure an 11am appointment...and co-incidentally take the day off work sick myself. Our usual GP looks and umm's and ahh's, thinks maybe it's canal debris...until I mention that I think it looks like plastic, something with a well-defined shape, and that it hasn't changed since Fri lunch...at which point her eyes light up and she agrees, yes, this does look like a foreign object! She quickly writes a referral to Mater Children's Emergency Dept, and off we toddle into the city - via the chemist for some Codral Cold & Flu for me!

Fortunately we don't have to wait long at the Mater and are seen by yet another GP, who agrees that there is something in there and that the ball of was on the right side really should go. She attempts to retrieve the wax but it must be further in that i thought cos Kaelen squirms and wriggles and is generally uncomfortable, preventing her from reaching the wax. She decides to try the other side, as it's i ways more important to retrieve, but it's even further in and she is again unsuccessful. Not wanting to distress Kaelen any more, she decides to call an ENT surgeon to see if it can be suctioned out, and we are again in the waiting room.

Sadly, within minutes, she finds that all the ENT surgeons are in theatre, and won't be available for hours. She send us home, saying they'll make us an appointment and send us a letter telling us when it will be.

Oooh, snail mail - jsut the thing for dealing with urgent medical situations...

On the way home my Mum rings me and we discuss the possibility of a visit to our private ENT. I had suggested this at our 11am GP appt, but had decided to follow our GP's advice and go to Mater first. Mum convinces me to at least ring out ENT and see what our options are. They're getting to know us now :-s Apparently he's not at his city clinic this afternoon, but if we can get to his other clinic then he could squeeze us on to the end of the day at 5:15pm. Sold. How do we make it work? I dunno, but we'll figure it out. I buy Kaelen McDonald's for lunch on the way home cos he's been such a good boy...even thought that means no nap today :-/

After much to-ing & fro-ing and other logistical discussion that you don't need to hear, Mum & I get Kaelen to our ENT's alternate clinic at about 5:30, knowing that he was already running late when I made the appt 4hrs earlier, and tends to be generous with his time anyway :-) He took one look and was in no doubt that it was a foreign object and should be dealt with as soon as possible...and that given Kaelen's new-found unwillingness to have people look in his ears (since the removal attempts at Mater), it would be best done under anaesthesia. After some musing decided he could probably fit us in to his day of surgery at a Brisbane hospital the next day.

...the next day!

Best answer I could have hoped for.

So, after more logistical discussion, Kaelen had an impromptu sleep-over at Nana & Grandad's house (my Mum & Dad), and was admitted to hospital at 7am the next morning. Wax was removed from right ear. Right middle ear was also found to be full of fluid, so that was removed. Small, round, grey, still-unidentifiable object was removed from left ear. Success! Now, what effect has this all had on his hearing?

A little hard to tell, but Mum & Dad thought they were hearing more clarity in the afternoon than the morning. But when I asked him if his ear was still sore, he said, "No, my ear is all better!" Even this morning he's still telling me that, "this one and this one (pointing to each ear) is all better!" That's what we like to hear!

So, after a 2-day adventure that really started on Friday, I'm pleased that Kaelen now has 2 clear ears! And they're "all better" :-)


Tune in next week for Jonica's new hearing aid fitting, Monday 28th May...