Beware of the Ick Factor

This morning when I was getting Brody dressed, in our usual morning rush, I noticed it looked like he had food stuck to his cheek and ear. I started cleaning his cheek, questioning what it was he ate, when I stopped dead in my tracks. His ear was covered (I mean COVERED) in ear wax/yucky goo. It was all dried up, but it looked as if his ear had exploded. I quickly realized that it was not food I had been cleaning off his cheek, but whatever mess that had oozed from his ear, had also gotten all over his face and hair.(sadly my camera did not pick up on the lighter goo, and this is post cleaning of his cheek and hair)
Needless to say I quickly called the doctor and made an appointment. And no, it does not seem that we can catch a break around here.
Brody's doctor is on vacation, so we saw my 2nd favorite doc in the practice, Dr Rosenthal. After cleaning as much as he could, he told me although what he could see of his ear drum looked good, he couldn't see much because of all of the stuff STILL IN IT. (hello!?!? look at the picture AFTER I cleaned him up... there's lots more in there?)
I raised my concerns over his speech development (which I have started writing about, but haven't had time to finish yet) and he agreed that a hearing test should be done. While he did a referral for that, he sent Brody to do a pressure test on his ears. Basically this test blows air into the ear, and it senses the amount of pressure on the ear drum. If it is normal, the machine reads out a mountain-like line, meaning the air goes through with no problem. If there is a problem, there is a flat line. Brody flat lined on both ears. Not what we were hoping for. Now where this could be a signal for a problem, it could just be that he has really bad ear infections (he was just treated two weeks ago for double ear infections) and all the fluid/goo is trapped behind his ear drums. The doctor decided to put him on ear drops, three times a day for 10 days, and repeat the medicine he was just on, because it is great for ears (Cefdinir.)
Brody will go back in 2 weeks to check his ears. He can not have his hearing test until we can clear up these infections as best as we can, so hopefully he can have that done in 2 weeks. If they will not drain, tubes will have to be put in his ears.
The doctor also was very happy I have already started to seek out Early Intervention services (again, I already started writing about it, but have not completed it yet, I will soon, I promise.)
Wish him luck and health for me!