Ear Tube Question

[Soundy]

Not sure where this should go since it is not about hearing but may be about surgery so just popping it in here

Yesterday was my husbands birthday... he is a pain in the doctors office ... if left too long in a room he wants to start messing with stuff ... he always wants to get the otoscope and look in ears ... so when we saw one at Walmart a while back we picked it up as kinda a gag ... last night he was peeking in every ones ears ... when he looked in my deaf ear he asked what the gray tubes in my ear were for ... ... heck I don't know since no mention of any tubes put in my ear at time of surgery has ever been made ... both girls looked in and said yep , tubes

Called my PCP office this morning and when they looked through my surgical transcripts there is no mention of tubes and when he has looked in my ear it has been because I had swelling in canal and he has seen no tubes ... called neuro office  and the doctor who took over when my surgeon left says they have no record of any tubes being put in when I had surgery ...

so question to one and all ... to your knowledge , did you have any tubes inserted when you had surgery ? what would they be for Drainage would be my guess but seems there would be some mention of them ... gonna run in to office tomorrow and get PCP to look and make sure what my family describes  as looking like  two  ends of gray macaroni (yuck) are tubes and if not tubes just what they are ...

[Jim Scott]

Soundy ~

You sure get all the weird stuff!  I have absolutely no idea of what was seen in your ears but you certainly need to have it checked out by a medical professional.  I recall that some time ago a poster mentioning that she had 'strings' in her ears (unbeknown to her) that were checked by a doctor and found to be undissolved sutures from her AN surgery (I think).  That was strange.  As I remember it, they were safely removed.  It may be something similar in your case but 'tubes' and 'strings' are quite different so I'm not at all sure this is even comparable.  I do know that I'm almost as anxious as you are to find out what the heck is in your ear - and why.  Please let us know.  Thanks.

Jim

[saralynn143]

I don't know the answer to your question, but hope you find out and let us know.

Anyway, yesterday was my husband's birthday too.

[ombrerose4]

That is certainly strange, I wonder what it could be?

[leapyrtwins]

Soundy -

I have never heard of this, but I'm dying to know what you find out.

Please keep us posted.

Jan

[CHD63]

This is very unusual ..... waiting to read what you found out!!

Clarice

[Kaybo]

ONLY YOU!!    

The family that looks in each others' ears, stays together??   

Anxiously awaiting!

K   

[Soundy]

If my husband was not such an odd ball we wouldn't have found out anything was in there ...he always wants to get the one hanging on the wall and peek in someone’s ear while we are waiting for doctors  ….he almost lost a finger a couple weeks ago working on some farm equipment and when we were in ER treatment room he was fiddling with stuff ...he took my blood pressure, listen to my heart beat  and wanted to look in my ears then …wish I had let him so someone with a medical degree of some kind could have peeked in …. he also wants to give someone stitches    ..he is just a strange bird ... the kids were trying to take a picture of it with my camera on macro setting so I could see what ever was in there  but never got a good one

with the odd things that have cropped up since surgery , I am beginning to think the doctor that I was perfectly happy with for my surgery and the 3 1/2 year he treated me before surgery was not the right man ... but since I can't go back and get a re-do I am gonna roll with the punches and cross my eyes that this is a simple fix ... and thank someone that I do have a nutty husband that wants to peek in peoples ears ... 


Anyway , it is confirmed … I have tubes in my deaf ear  … everyone that has had input is in the opinion that they need to come out … when PCP has looked in my ear , the canal has been swollen and once there was an infection and fluid was in my ear  , so he couldn’t see them … if they are stopped up it could explain the fullness and why I have ear aches with no evident infection … figure they were put in to drain ear or sinuses into throat ….

When MRI from December 2008  was reviewed today you could see a thin line that just kind looks like a pencil line … the one line we see on MRI doesn’t look like a tube but the radiologist says it is because the material doesn’t show up as much more than a shadow … doctors wanted me to have an MRI every year but with insurance change that hasn’t been an option since they say that it is not necessary …

if they have to be removed I think it should be done at no charge …since according to hospital records they are not there and I have never had any ear surgery or had my head open for any other surgery … they were probably put in to drain fluids to my throat til my head was  healed inside …but this is a just  guess … I have small canals and before surgery when they were tracking hearing loss they had to use the smallest plugs in my ears …so drain tubes may make sense but would like to have known so when my ear was full and achy I could have done something other than just take it as part of my new normal …  doctor said if they are not adhered to any tissue that they should be able to just slip them out in the office with a spray of numbing agent in my ear …

I am a bit P-O’ed … I just don’t need anything else right now …and my insurance will roll over January 1  and I will have to start all over on my $2400 deductible and $2400 out of pocket before insurance starts picking up …and audiologist that was called can’t get me in until mid January but has me on list for any cancellation before January first …  CIGNA used to pay a percentage and we would be billed  the rest … BCBS doesn’t pay a penny until we meet our yearly share … GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[Jim Scott]

Soundy ~

Thanks for the update and the confirmation that, indeed, you have tubes in your ear.  I believe your conclusion that they were originally inserted to drain fluid from your ear canal and were forgotten is accurate.  Why they are not listed in your hospital records is puzzling.  However, I agree with you (for what that's worth) that the tubes should be removed at no charge to you because they should have been removed at the hospital, prior to your discharge.  I trust the removal process will be as easy as your doctor described.  You deserve a little break. 

Jim

[Kaybo]

Well, I'll be...that is crazy!!


K   

[saralynn143]

My son had his taken out in the ear doctor's office - he had to sit real still but it was easy, quick and painless. He being my son of course, the ear doc had to move around a bit!

With the right pair of tweezers, your husband could probably take them out . . .

[Brewers7]

Sara,
     I was thinking that needle nose pliars might work.

[Soundy]

My son had his taken out in the ear doctor's office - he had to sit real still but it was easy, quick and painless. He being my son of course, the ear doc had to move around a bit!

With the right pair of tweezers, your husband could probably take them out . .

  I am glad he doesn't read here because he might want to try ...

when I go out in the cold I have to have that ear plugged or covered because it gives sensation that something like a knife is being stabbed into my ear/head ...wonder if th tube is conducting cold deeper into my noggin causing the pain

[saralynn143]

I wouldn't think so, Soundy, but then again, who knows. You'll have to report back after you find out.

[Captain Deb]

It really burns me up that we end up paying for medical screw-ups and doctor mistakes, but it is a fact of life (or a fact of hospitals and insurance companies!). When a doc was draining a cyst that had developed in between my liver and diaphragm, with no sedative or anesthesia, he punctured my lung, which immediately collapsed.  It reinflated a little and they SENT ME HOME!!  Who sends someone with a pneumothorax HOME?  Of course I woke up in the middle of the night unable to breathe, was rushed to the hospital, and had a chest tube inserted in the ER (most painful thing know to man!) And spent 5 days in the hospital.  Ofb course I got stuck with the entire bill and the doc who did it to me never even stopped by my room to apologize. Turd!

Capt Deb