Abby Connolly
With spring and summer right around the corner, some people are super excited to bring out their grills and start barbecuing.
However, there is one grilling tool that people should avoid, as doctors are emphasizing just how dangerous they can be.
Dr. Meghan Martin (@beachgem10), a pediatric ER doctor and TikTok creator, recently went viral after telling the story of one of the most interesting cases she’s seen on the job. It concerns a young boy, ear pain, and a grill tool. Can you guess what it is before the end of her story?
A 4-year-old boy entered Meghan’s hospital one day with extreme ear pain. Earlier that day, he was eating a hamburger at a barbecue when he suddenly started crying while grabbing his ear.
In the ER, he had an ear exam which came back completely normal. The doctor suggested that he takes ibuprofen and go to an ENT if the pain didn’t go away within two days.
The pain hadn’t subsided, so two days later, the boy was taken to an ear, nose, and throat doctor, otherwise known as an ENT.
The ENT did an exam which also looked normal. He was sent home with some ear-numbing drops and was told to keep taking ibuprofen.
Nothing was getting better for this poor boy, so his parents took him back to the ER. They decided to do a CAT scan of his mastoid, which is located just behind the ear.
The scan was taken without contrast, and no one could see anything wrong. Once again, he was referred to the ENT and a pediatrician.
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