Get ready for it, this is going to be a big me post - sorry girls, haven't had time to read all the posts, but just need to let you know what has been happening with us.
You all know the difficulties that we have been having with Jazzy being sick. Well it all came to a head on Tuesday night. I had taken her to the GP during the day only to be told YET AGAIN that she had another viral infection and to just to the normal, panadol/nurofen, rest fluids etc. Anyhow I was about to leave the rooms when I noticed that behind J's left ear had got really red. I mentioned it to the GP who had a look and a feel and said that it was nothing to worry about at the moment, but if it got swollen or sore to bring her back. Well I thought nothing more of it until DH came home that night and mentioned that he thought J's left ear was sticking out (I hadn't mentioned about the ear to him as the GP made out it was nothing to worry about). So I had a feel around and it was tender and swollen. Rang nurse on call and they said get her seen by a doctor within 4 hours. So off we went to Royal Childrens. Triage nurse sent us through to the after hours service down the hall. Finally we were seen and the GP took one look at it and said that he had to go and speak to the paedeatrician (sp?) to get some advice. When he came back he took us straight through to a cubicle and said that a doc would come and speak to us some more. Turns out poor little J had mastoidititis which is an infection that has moved past the middle ear into the madtoid bone behind the ear. She was immediately started on fasting and organised to have a line put in her little hand (horrible experience). Once the line was in they started her on IV antibiotics and fluids. She was just miserable.
We got admitted to hospital about 2am Wednesday morning and the ENT registrar and consultant came to see us later that morning. They asked us all about what had been going on and they informed us that it was more than likely that she had an undiagnosed middle ear infection for the entire course of her illnesses - that is almost 6 weeks!!!! Needless to say we are changing GP's. The consultant said that the fact she has been febrile for most of that time should have rung alarm bells with the GP as she would not have been that way with just an URTI virus. And over time it has obviously spread into the mastoid bone.
Jasmine was taken to surgery at 11am that morning. She had all the pus cleaned out of her little ear, they inserted a grommet to help with further draining and they also cut behind her ear done to the bone to check for an abcesses (which there wasn't thank goodness). You should have seen her when we went into recovery. She had this massive bandage on her head as there was an external drain for the wound behind her ear. They had also moved the line from her hand to her foot so she had a big splint on that. She was miserable but alert and responsive. I tell you, next to hearing her cry for the first time when she was born, hearing her cry after the surgery was nearly as sweet - she was alright.
So we have been in hospital since then on IV anitbiotics. The external drain came out yesterday and they also started her on ear drops. We got discharged this morning with oral AB's for another week and ear drops for another 2. We have a follow up appointment with the hospital in 2 weeks then will continue to go and have check ups until the grommet falls out (about 6 months). She is not allowed to swim in indoor pools (outdoor and the sea are okay) and has to now have showers not baths to minimise the risk of water getting in through the grommet.
The main thing is that she is okay. The staff are just amazing and we truly thank them from the bottom of our hearts for taking such good care of her.
We hope you are all well.
I will be back soon to check up on everyone and catch up on persies.
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