Is this normal after grommets? (Pic included)

[NalaLion]

My 4yo had grommets fitted a week ago today, the op went really well and already noticed a difference in her hearing and speech.

She was in a bit of pain for the first couple of days so gave regular Calpol but this seemed to ease off and she has been fine, I have kept her off school at the surgeons request to minimise infection etc.

The last couple of days she has been complaining of pain again though, I put it down to it all healing up at first, she had myringotomy also in both ears which is where they remove all the build up of fluid and wax from the ear/behind the ear drum. She won't let me anywhere near her ears to have a good look but I managed to take a photo tonight and she has what looks like a big blood clot or scab in her ear, is this normal? The doctor said to expect a discharge, not noticed any discharge as such just this scab which has formed? Only in one ear too when she had grommets fitted in both.

She has had no high temps etc which would indicate an infection, think I will call the ENT department tomorrow for some advice. Just wondered if anyone had any similar experiences?

My Ds has had 3 sets of grommets and has never had anything looking like that. He had some bloody discharge immediately after the op, but that cleared up within 24hrs.
I would get it checked out as the blood/clot could be blocking up the grommet, making it useless till it's cleared.

I would definitely get it checked out as well. My dd has had 2 sets put in and didn't suffer any pain or bleeding except after the initial op. Hope everything is ok

Thank you, will definitely be getting her checked out today, she woke up at 4am with the pain and only managed to get back to sleep after some ibuprofen and a hot water bottle on her ear. It's just the one ear too the other one looks fine.

I would ring the ward you stayed on as they can ask the doctors, unless you can get through to them yourself. You could ring your consultant's secretary. If she's finding it painful then yes do phone.

Some bloody discharge is normal but grommets shouldn't be too painful so if she's struggling a week later I would ask for advice. Don't try and remove the scab yourself, only wipe around the ear.

Ds has had a bit of blood on two of the times he's had grommets, but that's been immediately after the operation.
She may need antibiotics, ds had them the first time as his temperature shot up directly after the operation (within a couple of hours) as he'd clearly been brewing an infection at the time of the operation (no surprise really as he had them every 10 days!).
However the grommets worked beautifully and he had no problems after the first week when we got admitted back to hospital due to not being able to keep anything down

The other possibility is that it could be the grommet out already. It does happen.

Thanks everyone I contacted the ward who got us seen quite quickly, the grommets are still in place she has infection in both ears so she has a course of oral antibiotics and just keep up with pain relief.

Poor love. We're waiting for grommets atm-had them previously. Hope she's out of pain quickly