Re: An introduction finally

[Guest guest]

Never heard of the blowdryer but it could help with the whole airflow

thing because it is keeping the stale stagnant air out of there.

Chloro-Trimeton available OTC will help the swelling some as would

diphenhydramine AKA benadryl. The CT is really good for nighttime use

since it makes one sleepy. Ibuprofen good for the soreness,

tenderness, and swelling. Most of those kinds of symptoms as far as I

know, unfortunately, just have to run their course.

>

> I am finally getting around to posting an introduction. Sorry it

took

> so long, with my son's surgery and the holidays things were hectic.

I

> am 35 (well, for 12 more days anyway, lol) and married for 16

years.

> We live in California and have 4 children ages 12 to 8 months. My

12

> year old son never had ear problems until he began school. He went

> through a chronic ear infection stage and then had PE tubes. Never

> had any more problems until this past summer. My 11 year old has

had

> 2 sets of PE tubes and his adenoids removed. He is currently being

> treated for an ear infection. My 4 year old son went through a

series

> of ear infections and had PE tubes placed two years ago and had

been

> ok since. In July my 12 yo complained of ear pain and had some

> discharge. I took him in and because of our lack of health

insurance

> we had to rely on Medi-Cal. Well, we saw a nurse practitioner or a

> student each visit, never a doctor. Since we had Medi-Cal they had

to

> prescribe medications in a specific order (Medi-Cal would not

approve

> certain medicines until others had been tried first) so he went

> through Amoxicillin, Augmentin, Erythromycin, Zithromax, Cipro, and

> three others, two being injections. Nothing helped and they

cultured

> his ear three times. All came back positive for Pseudomonas. Cipro

is

> the drug of choice for Pseudomonas. Problem is, they prescribed it

to

> him for one week then took him off, saying it was resistant. I now

> know through researching it that the usual course is 2-6 weeks.

They

> finally gave up and said they couldn't get rid of the infection and

> sent him to an ENT. Well, the ENT looked at his ear and said he

> needed surgery to repair a ruptured eardrum, place tubes, and

> posibbly restore hearing (he has 80% loss in his left ear) OK, we

> wait on a referral approval. They denied it, saying that since he

has

> hearing loss it is considered a disability and would be covered by

CA

> children's services but we had to use their ENT. More waiting after

> that for a referral to him. OK, two months down the road we finally

> get in to see him only to be told it's just Swimmer's Ear and not

to

> give him drops or antibiotics and just blow dry it several times a

> day and come back in three weeks. We go back and he says it looks

> like it has granulized and orders a CT scan. Sure enough,

> Cholesteatoma. It is so bad it had destroyed the three bones in his

> inner ear. He says it's a congenital form but how the heck could

> numerous doctors over 12 years, including one ENT placing tubes,

miss

> it? I think he was just covering for the whole Swimmer's

Ear/sending

> us away thing. So, he had a 3 1/2 hour surgery on Dec. 22nd. He had

> his packing removed on Jan. 3rd. He is still having

> grennish/yellowish discharge but a call to the doctor just got

> me " use the blowdryer 4 times a day " I am concerned because his ear

> is so swollen that it looks like it could just bust open. It

> protrudes and is so heavy from being swollen that it hangs lower.

The

> doctor said it would just take time as it was " a very big surgery "

He

> is still having pain (oh and Medi-Cal won't cover his refill, they

> only cover pain meds once every two months, odd huh) I did pay cash

> for it cause he needs it. I'm just very concerned about the

swelling.

> I did catch him sleeping on it this morning though, ugh! Today was

> his first day back at school after break so I wrote him a P.E.

excuse

> for this week. Am I just being overprotective? Thanks for reading

my

> long post. I look forward to getting to know all of you. Oh, and is

> anyone familiar with the CA children's services. Hubby got a new

job

> so our income will be over the limit to get Medi-Cal/CCS but his

> employer doesn't offer insurance until he's worked there three

months

> and we can't afford independent insurance. Can they just cut us off

> in the middle of treatment?

>