Before this deployment started I was pretty freaked out about going it alone with the three boys. Well…looks like I was right. This deployment started out in a very crazy way and I am still wondering how we are going to make it.
Although apart of me hopes that because it started in such a way, it will only get better. One can hope.
Anyway, last week my 8-year-old went to Boy Scout day camp. He had a blast. I picked him up on Friday and took him home. I noticed he was touching his ear but didn’t think too much about it.
I went about my day. I decided I was going to make a nice meal. I had put a roast in the crock pot and even made cornbread muffins. Yum. I was looking forward to sitting down and relaxing while I ate my yummy meal. My kids will eat it too which is a plus. Well I put all the food on the table and noticed my son messing with his ear again. I asked him what was wrong and if it was hurting him. That is when he told me… HE PUT A ROCK IN HIS EAR! Say what? Really? Why? He told me it was itching him. This is the only time he would admit why he did it. Anytime anyone else asked him he said he didn’t know.
Okay…so I take a deep breath. Maybe he means a tiny little pebble about the size of sand. We always get sand in our ear at the beach, no big deal right? I will get my husband’s little flashlight and look.
Man…that is a ROCK not a little sand size grain. It was now 6:00. I had to think about to do. I didn’t want to take any chances but I knew that it would be best if we had food in our tummy. I made everyone eat and I quickly finished my meal. So much for enjoying it. I didn’t even take the time to butter my cornbread.
I called my friend J. She is amazing. I hate hate having to ask for help but I also could not see taking all three boys to the ER with me. She was able to take my other two and we headed to her house. On the way, Drew, my six-year-old told me it was really good that he was going to her house because he isn’t so good at waiting in waiting rooms. So true and glad he can recognize that about himself.
Anyway, dropped them off and headed to the ER. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had never been there before except when I had what we later found out was Bell’s Palsy and then it was called Urgent Care. It wasn’t too bad. We checked in and five minutes later they called us to one of the rooms. I was thinking it wasn’t going to be a big deal. They would just pull the rock out and we would be on our way.
Well the first guy couldn’t do it. He said they would need to use water so we would need to wait for a room.
We only had to wait 15 minutes and then they took us back. The first nurse said he didn’t even see a rock. Trust me nurse, I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t seen the rock with my own eyes.
The doctor came in, saw the rock and tried a few different things. It really seemed like they didn’t want to try hard to get it out. While I understand this I was just getting frustrated. To me it looked simple with the right tools but the ER didn’t have any of those. They sent in another nurse to try the water. That didn’t work so they gave him some drops and told us to call ENT on Monday if it was still in there. I guess it isn’t a huge deal to have a rock in your ear for a few days as long as it really isn’t hurting you.
I made the decision to not go back to BACH but to call our regular doctor on Monday. So when I woke up Monday morning and saw that stupid rock was still there, I called and made an appointment. I thought for sure they could get it out. A few months ago they had to remove some ear wax build up and I thought this would be easy compared to that.
So Monday we went in and they tried to get it out but didn’t feel very comfortable with it either. They told me they would set up an appointment for an ENT for him. We did have to wait on Tricare. Here I am thinking he would have to live with the rock for another few days. As soon as we got home I got a call that we did get the referral and we could come into the ENT anytime.
I wanted to go ASAP because I was so over the stupid rock. We had to wait for a bit but then once the doctor came in he was able to get it out right away. It was the tool he used I am sure and probably just having more experience with things in ears. I was so relieved. We were able to keep the rock and I plan to frame it as a reminder to my son to never ever put anything in his ear and to remind myself that even though crappy things happy during a deployment, I can survive them.
So that folks is why you should never put rocks in your ears.
PS: I think if this had happened on a Thursday night and not the weekend it could have been taken care of the very next morning and would have been a lot less stressful.
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