Update on Mason

Mason has had an ear infection since the last week of January. If you remember from reading this that he had been put on antibiotics twice. The second round the Dr said might not work but because of his stomach and diarrhea issues she did not want to give him the stronger antibiotic. Well 7 days later he was still very sick. It was obvious those antibiotics did not work either. So this time the only place we could get in to see a Dr was Urgent Care. Urgent Care Dr put him on the Stronger antibiotic. He was on that for the whole 10 days as prescribed. But he was still complaining of ear pain and also not sleeping very well at night. So on Monday we went back to his pediatrician.

She said that he most likely has what is called "glue ear". Basically it is where the fluid just builds up behind his ear drum and his Eustachian tube is unable to drain the fluid either because of fluid buildup or because the tube lies flat in his head instead of at an angle to facilitate draining. That was the problem with Kaleb. His Eustachian tube was basically flat whereas in an adult as your skull grows the tube becomes more angled to facilitate draining from your ear back to your sinus where the fluid is then swallowed or comes out your nose.

The only way to know for sure if it is "glue ear" is to have an Ear Nose and Throat specialist take a look and most likely open the ear drum and drain the fluid. But since I knew the referral to the ENT would take some time I asked his Ped what we could do for him today. She told me that he had exhausted all the oral antibiotic options. We could give him an injection of antibiotics that might work. But then she wants us to follow up with ENT. I agreed.

The injection was horrible. Well I should say InjectionS. Because if his size he needed a larger dose of the medication than what they can give in one spot. So he got 2 injections. They know that the medicine burns and hurts as it goes in so the automatically mix in lidocaine to help with the pain. Ouch! So 2 nurses came in and I held his little hands and upper body as they gave the injections at the same time into each one of his thighs. Poor baby. He cried, I cried. It was horrible. Then we had to sit for 20 minutes to make sure he did not have any reaction to the meds. Luckily they gave him a lollipop to occupy his time. When we were cleared to go home I could tell his legs were still sore. They told me to give him Motrin and a warm bath when I got home.

Upon getting him in the bath I discovered 2 goose egg lumps where the injections went in. He was sore and cranky. But the bath and the Motrin helped and he did Ok for the rest of the evening.

I called the ENT the next day and made him an appointment. Mason goes in on Tuesday the 10th to see Dr. B. We already have a relationship with Dr. B because he is Kaleb's ENT Dr. and recently just did an ear procedure on Kaleb to remove ear wax plugs. We are hoping that Dr. B is able to determine what is going on with Mason's ears. Mason is still complaining of ear pain so I am leaning more towards the Ped diagnosis of "glue ear". That diagnosis means Mason will probably need tubes. I am hoping that Dr. B can get the tubes done sometime next week, as I just want Mason to feel better and soon!

I will keep this blog posted as we travel this journey!