A Visit to the ENT

A.K.A.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Carly's audiologist tried to do a routine hearing test and found that the negative pressure in her ears was increased tremendously and that her tympanogram was nearly flat. This indicated that she either had a large amount of wax build up or a large amount of fluid in her ears. She recommended I see the ENT and have him check for both. I took her to see Dr. Gerber on Wednesday.

We got into the examining room and I told him what Dr. Marquis, the audiologist, had said. I asked him if while we were there he would mind looking in her nose as she had been a little more congested lately and I had noticed that her nose had been stinking on and off for a while. I thought she might have a sinus infection that wasn't presenting with any other symptoms.

Dr. Gerber looked into her ears and said they were pretty packed with wax, but they didn't look infected. He looked up her nose and said that he did see something up there. He said he would try to get it out. I was thinking it was some type of mucus plug or blockage and I do not do snot. I told Dr. Gerber that I wasn't going to watch. I put my head down and heard him say
"Carly, lean your head back. Aaand, I got it, it is a.........shoe!"
Dr Gerber is a pretty funny guy so I giggled a little and then looked up. Dr. Gerber had a completely straight face.

Me: You're serious.
Dr. G: Yes.
Me: There was a SHOE up her nose?
Dr. G: Yes.
Me: A shoe? A SHOE?
Dr. G: Well, not an actual person's shoe, but a doll shoe, I'm not sure what kind.
Me: There was a doll shoe UP her NOSE?
Dr. G: Yes.
Me: A shoe, up her nose?
Dr. G: Look.
He then showed me the shoe, a Polly Pocket shoe to be exact. He left the room to get the ear cleaning room ready and I quizzed Carly about HOW a Polly Pocket shoe got up her nose. Her excuses were:

1. I swallowed it and it went up there. (I asked Dr. Gerber about that possibility and he said, 'It is possible, but not probable. It is all connected, but that would be like a Letterman trick.) (See, funny.)
2. Daddy dared me to. (I reminded her that even though he wasn't there to defend himself, we were on our way home and he would be there.)
3. Someone else did it. (So, you laid down and let someone shove a Polly Pocket shoe up your nose?)
4. I have no clue! (Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! I think she was playing Polly Pockets and watching t.v. and zoned out. She had an itch or something else and up it went. She probably never knew that she did it.)


As I was quizzing Carly, I could see Leighton out of the corner of my eye inching her way over to Dr. Gerber's table. I looked at her and she asked if the shoe was in the tray on the table. I said yes and she kept going. I asked her what she was doing and she said, 'I want that shoe back, it matches one I have at home!' Dr. Gerber said, 'Not anymore, it doesn't.'

We moved into the ear cleaning room and he pulled out enough wax to make a large pillar candle. Her ears looked good and he gave us a prescription for the little infection she had around the shoe and sent us on our way. As he left the room, Leighton asked me, 'Why does he have to do all the gross stuff?' I could hear him laughing as he went down the hall.

We got in the car and I called my friend, Jessica. We had just been talking about Carly's nose and she said that there was probably something up there. I had to let her know that she had hit the nail on the head. Then I called Dee to tell him. Next, I started dialing my mom and Carly pipes up from the back, 'Jeez Mom! Are you going to call the whole neighborhood?'