Sunday, November 11, 2012

Why I Have Gray Hair

Nolan has been having difficulty hearing again. It is no surprise that he is congested - his ears seemed fine for most of last week, thank goodness, but he was constantly poking at his right ear yesterday. This is generally not a good sign.



Last night, he told me that he couldn't hear at all in his right ear. I took a look with the otoscope, and was rather freaked out by what I saw. A thin, white triangle jutted out of yellow fluid and wax. I wasn't sure what I was seeing. I couldn't see his tubes in that ear (this is the ear with two tympanostomy tubes). I thought his eardrum might have perforated and that I was possibly seeing middle ear bones. I had a silent panic attack and was going to take him into the pediatrician on Monday, to confirm what I was seeing.

This morning, I decided to take another look. There was something lying in his ear canal, and I pulled it out. It was a glob of earwax embedded around one of those plastic tags that holds the price tag onto new clothes. It was bent over, and was apparently used by Nolan as a way to scratch an itch in his ear.

Thankfully, it didn't puncture his eardrum and came out on its own. His eardrum was behind the mass of plastic tag/earwax and looks just fine (both tubes in place, one metal and one plastic U-tube).



Of course, the big We Never Put Things in Our Ears lecture was repeated. Hopefully he'll never try a trick like that again.

I am a little concerned that an infection is brewing in that ear, a scant four weeks after surgery. It is itchy, and he isn't hearing well out of it. He's congested and putting his hearing aid in is a little painful. I'm going to watch and wait, and hopefully it will dry out and the cold will disappear. We have PE Tubes #5 and #6 sitting in that ear, and I am truly hopeful that they will last a long (long, long) time.


6 comments:

Kyla said...

So crazy!! Glad it was *just* a tag, but still...what are the odds?!

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Oh my gosh! Poor kid - itchy ears are no fun. And poor mom - panic attacks are no fun!

Hoping his ear clears right up,

Julie

dlefler said...

No real fluid today, thank goodness, so I think it was just irritation from the tag. Not sure why he's so itchy, but earmolds are certainly not helpful in that domain. Color me relieved!

Karen Putz said...

Oh gosh, the things kids put in their ears! File this under the "Some day we'll look back and laugh" category.

Susannah said...

oh my goodness- when i saw this on fb i died! SO crazy! as if you don't have enough on your plate!

Anonymous said...

How is he doing now?