We have been waiting all summer for our appt with the ear nose and throat dr at Children's Mercy for Avery, we were on a waiting list. It of course came right on the first week of school. She wasn't too thrilled with missing school already!
Loved the doctor she saw today! Little background...Avery has sensoneural hearing loss in her right ear, this has been since birth and it has remained stable over the years. She sees the district audiologist each year just to makes sure things remain the same year to year. This past year her left ear showed hearing loss and she had a flat tympanogram most likey caused by fluid in her ear so she was to come back and get it rechecked. long story short...many tymps later, more hearing tests, 20 days of antibiotics things remained the same and the audiologist and her allergist suggested she see an ent dr.
Fast forward 4 months...today...everything remained exactly the same as it was 4 months ago, showing hearing loss in that left ear and a flat tympan, also referred to as conductive hearing loss. I loved the simple way one of the nurses explained it to me today, the neural they can do nothing about, that is permanent....the conductive is something they can do something about. I love when they put things simply for me. The dr was also very good today about explaining things simply to me...maybe my blonde hair told him to go slow and simple. Ha! He put her ear under a microscope and saw that there for sure was fluid behind the eardrum. They tried several methods to get it to "pop" to no avail. The doc said it is very rare for a child her age to all of a sudden develop fluid in only one ear (it is usually bilaterally) so he really wanted to do a scope to see if there was a "bigger issue, something back behind the nose". My heart kinda skipped a beat because i had a feeling i knew what he was talking about. They sprayed some lidocain up her nose and stuck this long tube with a camera all the way up her nose and back in her throat. Avery is such a trooper, she handled it SO well! She was sneezing and eyes were a watering but she sat as still as could be! Thank GOD, there was "no mass" !! The word mass had not been a passing thought with this ear problem so that caught me completely off guard and made this suddenly seem ever so minor!!
Next step is to get a tube put in her ear. We went ahead and scheduled her for next Friday. They will drain that darn fluid, put the tube in and Avery will probably feel like she has a brand new ear!
We told Raegan that Avery has to go get the monkeys out of her ears just like she did...
What to do with my girls... they keep us hopping with appointments! I am ever so thankful though for my healthy children! I couldn't help but think several times today "what if he had seen something with that scope?!" I was just reminded how grateful i should be!
1 comment:
I am glad the doctors were able to explain what is going on with her. It is so important to know what is wrong so a solution can be found! I hope the treatment works for Avery!
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