ENT Appointment: Ear Infection Damage Control

Heading into Space at the Museum of Science

Honestly, Nolan gets the worst ear infections I have ever seen. They appear whether or not he is on antibiotics, and they last for 2-3 months at a time. It is simply ridiculous. The last one he had was in October of 2012, which is when he had his tubes removed and a fifth set placed. The ENT had to place 2 tympanostomy tubes into his right ear to drain the infection.

This morning, he was draining infection from the right ear, and I called the ENT's office. "Can you be here by 11:30 am?" they asked. With a lot of rushing, we made it out the door by 9:30 am and were on our way to Buffalo. My mom is visiting from California, so at least the boys had some extra company in the car!

There was almost no one waiting at the ENT's office, which was a relief. We saw the nurse practitioner today, and she was fantastic. Nolan did have to take a trip to the procedure room to have his ear cultured and vacuumed out. He started screaming and thrashing the minute we started down the hall - he hates having his ears cleaned out.

The NP was very, very gentle and we got it done as quickly as possible, but Nolan was NOT amused. He only kicked her twice this time around, which is a slight improvement over last time. She went to discuss the situation with Nolan's ENT, since he has surgery planned on Tuesday. The ENT verified there was nothing else to be done, and also said, "He better not get sick!"

Ugh.

I will call and find out the culture results on Friday. If it is a fungal infection (again) he will need Lotrimin suspension for his middle ear. If it is a resistant bacteria, then we'll need a different antibiotic. At the moment, we're continuing with the oral Augmentin (he was already on this medication) and add in Ciprodex drops.

After the appointment, we took a trip to the Buffalo Museum of Science. Nolan was very impressed by the mummy exhibit, and told Dennis about the "dead mummies in boxes." Both boys loved the hands-on exhibits and it was nice to have some "fun time" with my mom.