Yesterday, I had to bring this 8-year-old and very awesome young man, to the operating room.
We needed to have him under general anesthesia in order to get out this bright orange, flaking-apart, silicone earplug stuff.
He was trying to soften the sound of the family vacuum by putting this #earplug material in his ear. Unfortunately, it got stuck in his ear. So his #Dad did what all Dads would do – try to remove it himself. It was not successful though. Remember people, a tweezer will not open when you put it into a narrow space; it stays closed.
I figured that the silicone was pushed a little further in by a very well-meaning parent. Also, the staff at the Urgent Care tried to get it out, so that by the time I was able to attempt its removal, the material was deeper in the ear canal. Also, the ear canal started to swell around the earplug, making it really difficult for me to remove it. Also, it was extremely difficult for this boy to sit quietly and still. I was afraid that he would move quickly, and my instrument could injure his eardrum, so I aborted the mission.
Easily, I was able to slide it out in the operating room while he was under #anesthesia. He did well, the material was out of his ear, and there was no damage to the eardrum.
I am sure that there was major damage to his parents’ wallet due to the copay related to the facility and anesthesia. My point here is that ear canal foreign bodies (and nasal foreign objects for that matter) are not just simple, funny occurrences now-a-day. Sometimes they are dangerous, rarely they are life-threatening, and frequently – they are costly.
You know, if a mattress store sold the book “No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” it would not affect mattress sales. Unfortunately, some of your favorite #Crafts stores don’t want to carry this book because they think it would reduce bead sales!
