I don't make these things up. Elisabeth comes up with stuff like this on her own. After reading over the symptoms of mastoiditis and looking at the picture, I realized we had something more than a bump on her head. It was a bump behind her ear I found on a visit to Portland Maine over Thankgiving break. I saw it while washing her hair and asked if anyone had bumped her head enough to cause a bump this size.
Well, we are all guilty because she's not the easiest 18 year old to get in and out of an airport taxi stand where security is yelling "move, move move!" Okay, buddy, cut her some slack for not being able to get out of the car on her own! Nor is it convenient for her to get on and off an airplane because sometimes she's so spastic that she cannot be carried down the aisle without bumping something! The restrooms were not up to her standards, either, so we had major mobility issues there, too! (We did run into Senator Lieberman ... )
When we got home from our trip, the bump started looking like a cyst or boil so visited our primary doctor who thought it could be several things given her history of cholesteatoma. The primary care prescribed a broad spectrum antibiotic and "wait and see" diagnosis from our ENT this Thursday.
The challenge for me is managing this bump turned "boil" oozing out from the back of her ear in two places. Peroxide, neosporin ointment, q-tips, and TLC. She's not even phased by all this, but she can't go to school in this condition so we are at home waiting on a primary care doctor to call about managing this yucky ooze coming out of her head.
This was suppose to be a fun week for Elisabeth. Swimming on Tuesday and a trip to the museum on Friday. It was a great year for Elisabeth health wise overall. No infections or anything to worry about in 2012 except that her ENT wanted to explore the ear area for cholesteatoma re-occurrence which was 40%. I guess now he has a good reason to proceed. Unfortunately, it requires a very invasive surgery complicated now by an infected mastoid. Exploring her ear for the culprit-- most likely a skin cyst or cholesteatoma -- that manifested itself in Elisabeth's series of unfortunate medical events.
Last hospital stay, Elisabeth was treated to a reading of Jane Austen. This time, I see a Tolkien fantasy about hobbits, elves, and dwarves in her near future.
