We Sprung a Leak

Chelsea's been fussy at night and crying a lot, chomping on her finger (but she has ALL of her teeth.) Friday afternoon I went to pick some wax out of her ear but it wasn't wax, it was hard like dried on drainage. So I told the nurse, she said she'd have someone come look at it, and they never did...all weekend! I mentioned the ear thing to her nurse again yesterday, but I think everyone just assumed she's good b/c she's been on IV antibiotics for 5 days now (for her UTI). So last night was awful, she was acting like she was going to crawl out of her skin, I was thinking maybe gas. Finally after oxycodone and benedryl she went to sleep. Then woke up again just before 5. I was rubbing her face trying to get her back to sleep and I felt this sticky stuff. I got a flashlight and she had a bunch of goo all over her ear. I'm not a doctor, but I do know that the ear is one place nothing should be going in or coming OUT of! The nurse came to look, then went to get the resident. She came back with oxycodone and told me the resident will be in at 6 and can come see her then. We waited up until 6:20, then her pain med kicked in and she crashed. I watched for the doctor and never saw one and fell asleep. Well she woke up crying again at 9, so I took her right out to the nurses station and told them I need someone to LOOK at her ear. They said the resident came by but we were sleeping.... so finally the nurse practicioner came and looked with the otoscope. I of course warned her that her canals are smaller (she didn't know that). She looked in her good ear first and couldn't see the ear drum. Then she looked in the bad ear and saw a lot of goo. She said it was hard to see anything other than that goop. How can she possibly have an ear infection after all these antibiotics?

Fast forward to this afternoon. We got Chelsea all masked up and took her down to the ENT office. They got her right in and started suctioning out her ear. There was a TV where the procedure was magnified for everyone to see. It was gross, but interesting. They were looking for her tube to make sure it was still in place. I had to stop them and say, hey, so what's going on, did her ear dum rupture? The ENT doctor was a very intelligent person and extremely knowledgeable in her field, but didn't have the best bedside manner. She told me their eardrums can't rupture if they have tubes (as if I should have known that). I'm not sure I understood everything as she was very blunt and didn't explain things well (her nurse translated everything for me into mommy language), but here's what I understood. She must have a cold (possibly still from when we were admitted 20 days ago) and we didn't know b/c when you have no white blood cells, you don't produce snot (snot is your body's way of fighting infection). The tubes are doing essentially what they are supposed to do, allowing the fluid to drain and not building up and festering causing severe pain. This doctor told me she shouldn't be having any pain with the tubes. I do disagree with that though as she's been way too fussy lately to not be in any pain. We will do antibiotic drops in her ear twice daily for a week. This shouldn't interfere with her going home (if we get counts this week). She explained that these antibiotic drops are 100 times more potent, and it's more efficient to put the medicine in the area it is needed instead of giving a general antibiotic that runs through your body. I hope it works, I really want her to start sleeping better. She is much happier and active when she's well rested.