We paid a visit to the ENT clinic yesterday, in order to see whether Namine’s ear infection had cleared up yet. It hasn’t. As a bonus, Namine had a panic attack in the clinic, too.
Last time we went to see ENT, they had to suck fluid out of Namine’s ear. It took Jessica, me, and a nurse to hold her down and keep her still enough – all the while she’s screaming “No, no, I can’t!” and trying to thrash us all off. She’s gotten a bloody ear before, from thrashing and getting the inside of her ear scraped. It’s a very fine line, using so much strength to keep her still (especially her head) and yet being gentle enough to not hurt her.
But none of that was required yesterday; all the doctor needed to do was look in her ears. No table, no holding down. But of course Namine’s memory is superb, and she thought we were going to repeat what happened last time and was struck by nothing less than sheer panic. So I ended up holding her head still once more. But once the doctor was done looking, Namine was fine. She smiled at the doctor and even gave her a hug. At least she didn’t throw up this time.
Unfortunately, Namine’s right ear is still infected. The left ear is fine, but we’re continuing with the ear drops for the right. If this infection continues to drag out, they might consider pulling that ear tube. There is the risk that the ear tube itself has trapped some of the infection and retains it inside Namine’s ear, and that risk grows as the infection itself lingers. We hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, at least we are prepared for that eventuality.
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