An Update to the Ear Situation

We've been dealing with an ear infection since before the new year. Read this post first, if you haven't already. 

I had two Lieutenant Colonels on the phone with me apologizing and assuring me actions were being taken within a few hours of filing that formal complaint. I was given my change of clinics immediately. And my daughter's referral to the ear-nose-throat doctor was rushed through the system. 

Not a moment too soon. 

On Monday, we saw the ENT, a local German doctor. German medicine is incredibly effective, straight-forward, and far more advanced than anything I've experienced state-side (so don't believe the US is medically superior, because we are very much not). I was happy to have my daughter seen by a competent specialist. He looked in her ears, asked her questions, and showed me the very large hole and scar tissue in her ear drum. 

Back up: Our "second opinion" told us that IF her eardrum had actually burst, he saw no evidence of it at all, and that was a week ago, and here I am, with my untrained eye, looking at my daughter's scar tissue and very much visible eardrum hole. That doctor is incompetent. 

Our German doctor expressed frustration at the lack of medication given to Kathryn by our health clinic, saying she never should have been given steroid drops as a growing child, and that antibiotics should have been the very first measure, given her dizziness, falling down, and extreme ear pain. That would have prevented the pus -- yes, pus, from entering her nerves and damaging her hearing. Had her eardrum not burst, the infection would have back-traveled into her bone, requiring surgery, and could have caused menengitis or worse. 

She was given a hearing test, and thankfully, it looks like there will be no major damage done there, but her ear will ring for quite some time, as this was a big, nasty infection, which, again, could have not become so had the clinic given us medication right away. 

Since sharing this story, many people I know who are seen by the same providers have shared horror stories with me about botched circumcision by the same doctor as our "second opinion," which means he screwed up a child's penis for crying out loud. I've heard people being called idiots behind their backs, being told that chest pain and heartburn are the "Bavarian crud" and told to go home... I encourage all of these people to file formal, written complaints, not with this terrible clinic, but higher than that, the head of Bavaria medicine, or even higher. This must not stand. We deserve adequate health care, and none of us are receiving it here. Shout it from the rooftops. Be your own advocate, because no one here is doing it for you. 

Kathryn's prognosis is good. We're taking a wait and see approach, since it's too late to administer antibiotics. We'll check back in two weeks. She never should have been put through all of this pain because two men couldn't see past their egos, and one of those couldn't see past his medical school training, because he's not had enough life experience to know better. The other, well, he's a complete ass with a god complex who does not belong in medicine, or in any field dealing with humans.