Sunday, February 5, 2012

ENT Follow Up

Cha-cha had a follow up appointment with Dr. C, our favorite ENT on Thursday.  We love Dr. C - he is just down to Earth and has children the same age as our kiddos, so he "gets" it all.  Last year when Bee-Bee had to get her adenoids and turbinates reduced, she begged for Cha-cha's doctor to do it, not the Allergist/ENT we took her to.  Yes, it's safe to say all of us have a crush on this doctor. ;)

Hubby took him since he took him to the last one and scheduled it for the morning.  We both thought it would just be routine - look in his ears and see if the left tube was still in place (right tube fell out about a year ago).  I thought it might include a hearing test, but for the most part we suspected things would be just fine...yeah, never suspect things will go fine.

About a month and a half ago, Cha-cha's right ear drum ruptured due to an undetected ear infection.  This follows suit of his ear infections he had from 6-11 months - he would be fine, no signs and all of a sudden, he would have a fever.  We'd take him to the doctor and BAM - he would have a raging double EI.  Cha-cha had been at school that day and all of a sudden, he had a temp and was withdrawn.  Eventually, he started screaming in pain.  It took me 30 minutes to find coverage at work and for me to race over there and sure enough, he was definitely in pain, but no longer screaming, just whimpering.  His SLP was there for a session and ended up just holding him and entertaining him with his itouch.  I sat on the floor and pulled him into my lap and I saw the red/orange puss draining from his ear.  His eardrum had ruptured.  I took him to his pedi who gave us drops and then pretty much things were back to normal quickly.

Hubby had two things to bring up with the ENT - his tube that is still in his left ear for 2 years and the ruptured ear drum in the right.  He didn't see anything weird - just some fluid in the right ear, so he told Hubby to schedule a hearing test and to come back in 6 weeks.  When Hubby went to the front desk to book the hearing test, they were able to take him that day - he just had to wait 8 minutes.  During the hearing test, the Audiologist noticed that there was a significant hearing loss in Cha-cha's right ear.  Not good for any kid, but especially a kid who has Apraxia.  She went and spoke to Dr. C directly, who had us keep the appointment for 6 weeks to see if there is any change.

So now we wait - worst case scenario - we need to have reconstructive surgery on the ear drum and have tubes put back in (while taking out the left ear and putting in a new one).  Best case - the ear drum heals itself and the fluid drains and we just have to watch it.  We go back on March 15th for the appointment.  Cha-cha will have a hearing test first and then we see the ENT to see what our plan of action will be.  The poor kiddo - he doesn't need this on top of everything else he has - and while he's moving to his new school. :(  Thankfully, he doesn't seem bothered by it.  Cha-cha is still the same smiley, happy, funny kiddo we all love. :)

2 comments:

Laura said...

My youngest has had reaccuring ear infections this winter. He also has alot of wax build up. If he current infection has no cleared in a few weeks, we talk tubes. Honestly, I'm thinking we just go with it. He's not talking as clear or as much as I would like/expect and hate wrestling medicine in him.

Gentle Blue Mom said...

When we did the tubes, Cha-cha was 11 1/2 months old - it was the best thing we could have done. He had 6 double ear infections in 5 1/2 months. For us it was a no-brainer. Since then, he's only had this one EI which ruptured the ear drum. If your doctor will do them, it's the best thing! Good luck!