What On Earth ... ?

... has Eleri put in her ear?!!!

Hello fellow bloggers - sorry I haven't been around much - I'm back to the four day working week again, and I've also had two evening meetings this week.

I hope you are all well! I have a new baby card in progress at the moment, but not sure when I'll get around to finishing it - Mr Mojo always disappears when I'm stressed, and boy am I stressed at the moment - I am so busy at work, and I also have worries about Eleri at the moment.

Eleri has been complaining on and off for a few weeks that her ear hurts. I've been giving her Calpol, and then she's been getting better. But, when she started complaining again this week, I decided it was time to take her to the doctor to get it checked out. And, apparently, she has a foreign body in her ear! I am so shocked as she has never been a child prone to putting things in her mouth or up her nose or anywhere else. Eleri says she can't remember putting anything in, but she is adamant that no-one else has put something in her ear. So we have no idea what it is or how long it's been there!!!

That was discovered on Wednesday. The doctor advised us to start by putting olive oil in Eleri's ear, in the hope that the thing would float up and out of her ear, but he made an appointment to see him the next morning if that didn't work. Well, the olive oil didn't work. So off we pop to the doctor the next morning - the doctor tried a few things, and the nurse tried washing it out with water - but still no joy! And no-one can tell what the item is - I think it looks like a tooth(!), the doctor thinks it's white with something yellow on it, and the nurse said it doesn't look as if it is round - it seems to be kind of square shaped! So, then it was a trip to the Ear Nose and Throat Department of the district general hospital. The first doctor we saw there said he thought it looked like a tooth (I had not told him that was what I thought it looked like!), then when he couldn't remove whatever it is, he wondered whether Eleri's ear drum had burst and it was that he could see so he asked his colleague to have a look. The second doctor came in and said that it is definitely a foreign body, and he thinks it is something plastic, he said it looks like a grommet, but she's not had a grommet fitted. That doctor did not think it was wise to remove it whilst Eleri is awake as it is too close to her eardrum. So he's booked her onto his theatre list for Monday morning, to have it removed under general anaesthetic!

I'm a bit nervous about it as neither of my children have had operations before. I had a phone call yesterday to confirm that Eleri is on the list for Monday, but the letter from the hospital has not arrived today, so I'm not absolutely certain where to go or what will happen. We've been asked to arrive for 8am, so that will mean a departure time of 6.45am from home. She's not to have anything to eat or drink from midnight Sunday, and we're to take dressing gown and slippers and something to keep her occupied whilst waiting for theatre. I know it's not going to take many minutes to do, but there is naturally a little niggle of worry in the back of my mind, about how she will react to the anaesthetic and what if it is something else and not a foreign body!

My Mum has given Eleri some money today for her to buy something to take into hospital with her, so we'll pop off somewhere tomorrow for that. And it'll probably be a sleepless night for me tomorrow night.

But Eleri says she's excited to see what it is that they take out! Actually, I desperately want to know what it is too - I'll let you know!

Love, Andrea xx