SARAH'S EAR

Tomorrow Sarah goes to have surgery to have a tube put in her ear. It all started at the end of September when she told me that she was having trouble hearing out of one ear. Like a good mother I ignored her the first time she told me. The second time (a couple weeks later) she told me again and I had her plug her good ear and tell me if she could hear the TV with the bad ear. She couldn't. I'm no Sherlock Holmes so it took me a day to figure out that it could be an ear infection. Last fall she had gotten an ear infection and did not have any pain until the infection was so bad the eardrum was about to burst. I know that it was about to burst because she described the pain as "throbbing" and said it felt like something in her ear was "growing." Now you would think I would be very tuned in to any sort of thing happening with her ears. So although she didn't have any pain, I decided a trip to the pediatrician was in order. Of course she did indeed have an ear infection. Quite bad actually. The course of treatment followed a similar path to last year. It took two or three rounds of progressively stronger antibiotics to cure the infection. Afterwards she had to be on six weeks of maintenance antibiotics because of residual fluid left over in the ear. Last year after the six weeks the fluid was gone but this year the fluid was still there.

Fortunately, we have an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist that we are familiar with (Tom has on going sinus problems and Erin had tubes in her ears when she was younger). I made an appointment and I wasn't surprised when he tested her hearing and she was having trouble hearing with that ear. We already knew this but hey, why not pay for an expensive test to tell us the same thing! Just joking, I'm sure its important to know just how much hearing lose there is just to compare with how much is restored after the tubes. He recommend a tube and said he would check the other ear for fluid during surgery and if some was in there he may put two tubes in. He said that it is common at this age for the adenoids to swell and sometimes block the end of the Eustachian tube so fluid can't drain. The adenoids usually go back down in a year or two. He also said in very rare cases the tube may be blocked by a tumor. He will check during surgery.

Considering Sarah is my little worry wart, she is doing outstanding. She really doesn't seem stressed much at all. I'm sure she will be a little worried tomorrow but so far so good. I am not really worried because we have been through this twice before with Erin. It gets to a point where you just want to get the tube put in so the problem can go away. I am constantly worried that the ear infection will flair up again. It just makes matters worse knowing she doesn't get the pain until its almost too late. She is off the antibiotics now for a couple of weeks so it could come back at any time. It will also be nice that she won't need those antibiotics since they really mess up her digestive system.