6 + Week ear infection--now a lump behind ear

[missy1971]

I took my 12 year old son to the doc at the end of October for an ear infection. His ear was scaly and crusty--quite ugly. I get very concerned about any infection on him, because he has had MRSA a couple of times in the past.

The doc put him on antibiotics and ear drops. When they ran out, his ear looked better, but not well. Within a few days, it got bad again. I took him back and the doc said it wasn't as bad as it was before (though it looked like it to me--even I could see that the ear canal was almost completely blocked), and gave him another antibiotic. Before he was done with that one, I could tell that his ear wasn't getting any better, so I took him to an ENT.

The ENT said the ear looked horrible and was full of puss. He cleaned it thoroughly and prescribed several things--oral antibiotics, antibiotic ear drops, antifungal ear drops, antibiotic ointment and antifungal ointment. His ear began looking better. After a week, we took him back and had his ear cleaned again. There was still pus inside, but the doc said it was looking much better and should be well in another week.

Now his ear looks great! Tomorrow evening is our final apt with this doc, to have his ear cleaned one last time and have him declared "well".

Unfortunately, last night, when my son got out of the bath, he said he had a very painful lump behind his ear. I looked it up on the Internet, and read that it is most likely a swollen lymph gland from the ear infection. My question... why would that gland swell after all of this time? Did the infection move? Or is it normal for the gland to swell when the infection is almost gone? It seems poor timing to me, for it to swell NOW!

I called the doc and am bringing my son in this afternoon to have it checked. I am really worried, and wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this?

Thanks,
Missy

[Enoch Choi, MD]

thanks for letting us know how the visit went...

if the lump is normal, it's probably a swollen lymph node

good luck with the wax softener drops.  that helps loosen things up a lot so that squirting it out in the clinic is less painful and difficult.

[missy1971]

The doc didn't say that he had staff, but said that he was treating it like it was, just in case. The tubes shouldn't be able to "cause" an infection, but they be the part that gets infected... The doc said the most common cause of the ear infection is water, with bacteria or fungi in it, gets in the ear canal and stays there, lodged behind ear wax or something.

I just got back from taking my son for his check up, and he said that the lump is normal, even after the antibiotics, even after taking them for so long. What a relief. He said the infection isn't gone yet, not completely, and that there is still some pus/ear wax that won't come off of his ear drum. So now we are adding ear wax softener drops to his regimen for 10 days. Hopefully we'll be done with all of this after that.

[Junebug37]

I'm not sure about the lump, but I'm wondering if his infection was/is a Staph infection.  You didn't mention that above, but I just posted something about my one year old having a Staph infection in his ear.  If that is what your son has (it sounds like it with the pus and everything), I'd like to know what causes that in the ear.  My son has tubes, and I'm thinking they might be the cause.  Just curious.

[OtoHNS_MD]

It is common to be related to the infection.  I'm glad you could get in to see someone so soon.