Reaching out you all here since ENT specialists in my city are all unavailable for another 6+ weeks..plus i dont trust them anymore really
4 year old who had ear tubes when she was younger and dont know if both fell out or not
Went to swimming park a few weeks ago
Now she has occasional drainage that is bloody and waxy looking. Every few days we have to clean her ear. No pain complaints, no fever, no appetite issues. No head trauma that we know of.
Anyone have any advice? We did amoxicillin and ear cleaning with peroxide and otc oil cleaner for ears...really frustrating as its been a few weeks now.
Thanks to anyone in advance.
EDIT: THANK YOU SO MUCH for the incredible advice all of you! You guys are incredible and I got all the help I needed. Thank you Thank you!
We kept our son's tubes in place for 4 years.
When they were first placed, the doctor insisted we were never to allow any water in there, and so we used those moldable clear wax plugs to keep water from going in when he bathed or swam. They worked great.
The ear tubes did their job, and stayed open and in place. And, if he ever got an infection in his ears, throat or sinus, it would drain out the open holes. Gross! But, it didn't hurt like it did when he didn't have tubes. And it cleared up much more quickly than before because it didn't stay in there, but drained out and dried out.
Once he'd gone long enough with no infections, we had them removed. Beforehand, the docs recommended we flush his ears with prescription eye drops to clean out the area. The drops drained right into his throat and he could spit out the liquid. Then he had to go back under anesthesia for them to remove the tubes and stitch the holes closed.
He's never had another problem with his ears since then.
Oh, forgot to add...
If she still has tubes in and she went swimming without ear plugs, and she has bloody drainage, she likely got an infection from the swim water getting into the inner ear through the open hole.
I'd keep a close eye on it. Do you have a temperature gun you can use to check the temp of the center of both ears? An elevated temp on the ear itself will mean she has an infection in that one even if the forehead doesn't read one.
Also, test her hearing and see if she is having any deficit. Doing salt water gargles and salt water sinus rinses will help flush out any infection in the back of the throat that may be contributing.
Good luck!
Yea actually I dont remeber ever being told we had to plug here ears for swimming. We went for 3 days to a swim park and not once did I think to shake the water out her ears. She got her tubes when she was like 1 and we saw a tube fall out a few years ago. Ill do the temp check but her balance and hearing is all maintained just a discharge . Thank you so much for your response and follow up. Were going to get the ontoscope and try for some eye drops. Thanks again friend