Urgent please - is this a hospital job?

[Boringthreadalert]

Sorry. Im feeling stressed.
Ds age 6 got sent home from school at lunch in an awful lot of distress screaming that his ear and head hurt.
Been to gp just. He has

• Temp of 38.5 despite calpol and ibuprofen
• a large swelling behind his ear at the top of his neck
• a lot of pain in his head and ear
• very pale
• distressed / crying / falling asleep very quickly

She was concerned and did a full body check including testes. Told me she has no idea what's caused it and then noticed his ear is bleeding and has very weird brown spots in too.
Has prescribed antibiotics and an ear spray.
Wants to see him again Tuesday to review the swelling In neck (size of a golf ball but not as prominent)
Said if I'm concerned at all go to a&e immediately
Has anyone seen anything like this in an ear before? She said it looked almost like a rash but odd that it's bleeding.
It's also on his school collar.
He had a nose bleed earlier this week which I forgot to tell her. The first one he's ever had

Thanks - I'd read this too so will be saying that if the doctor agrees. We are going away in 2 days so I want to be sure he's as well as possible :(

Update though... just looked at his ear and the blood has turned to this

It looks like pus is leaking out, mixed in with the blood. When you say you're going away - not flying I hope?

Thankfully not flying! Just off to London for the long weekend as his bday treat :(

Bless you both. I hope he's ok and glad you are getting seen to!

Hope he is ok. I think you are making the right decision. I’m a very wait and see type person but I wouldn’t be happy that the GP didn’t know what it was.

I would if he's no better after calpol and ibuprofen, I know someone's child who had a bad ear infection and needed IV antibiotics, she was very sick and spent 24h in kids ITU.
Better to go now than in the middle of the night

Sending positive thoughts your way.

A close family member has just come out of hospital with mastoiditis. He had a week of IV antibiotics and surgery. His was a pretty severe case but I wouldn't be taking any chances :

My son was admitted to A&E with a perforated ear drum and severe infection with similar symptoms - he also had a non- responsive fever to paracetamol and a secondary issue of gastroenteritis. He needed IV meds and 3 days in hospital - go to A&E.

GP could not prescribe strong enough antibiotics.

Glad your getting seen
hope it’s not too long and that they can help

Hope he's ok.

I've had a perforated ear drum and it is very painful. It bled and went all funny. Had been to the GP only hours before who said it was viral and not an infection. Now have hearing loss.

My dd had many ear infections but not the swelling behind the ear.
She had iv once when not responding to oral antibiotics and then started vomiting. Turns out the vomiting was unrelated as I found out afterwards her friends all had it.

I agree. It's just dried blood,isn't it? Pain killers and if he doesn't start improving then A and E.

That'll teach me not to RTFT 🙄

Poor lad. Glas you're getting seen and I hope that he has a speedy recovery.

@Boringthreadalert @MrsPelligrinoPetrichor The swelling behind the ear is likely to be a lymph node. I could be mastoiditis, but the chances are extremely low. The gp has given antibiotics, as I mentioned earlier, I would wait, unless there was deterioration.

Hi all, we are home.
His ear drum has burst and he has a nasty middle ear infection. The big swelling is a little too far down to be mastoiditis but she said that it can be a complication so has told us what to look out for.
His ear is a mess - very very brown and gunky and he's still very unhappy. I'm really glad we got seen and got a better explanation. She said when we saw the gp earlier it's unlikely it had burst hence the extreme pain and bits of blood, but now it's undeniably burst.
Really appreciate everyone's messages on the thread, thanks again 🙂

Hope he recovers well and you can have some rest now. Enjoy your London trip, sure all will be well.

My DS suffered terribly with ear infections and regularly had a burst ear drum and we found once it had burst we were over the worst of it so hoping you find the same as well.

Blimey that sounds really nasty.
full recovery expected I hope!
anyway you obvs did the right thing

I would totally go to A and E if my child had those symptoms.

Oh bless him, so glad you were seen quickly

wishing him a speedy recovery

Poor little lad.

I'm glad you've been seen and got an explanation. Hopefully he'll soon perk up and you can enjoy your trip.