Ear tubes in. Adnoids out.

Lets just call this "Operation Bye Bye Earaches and Super Stuffy Nose!" We think we have a plan to help rid Little Guy from those achey ears and gunky nose. He's had 7 ear infections and 2 sinus infections (on top of a nose that constantly runs)in the past 6 months. Needless to say, its time to take action...and that's exactly what we're doing.

This morning, we met with Dr Krakovitz, one of the best Pediatric ENTs in the area. He and his team spent a lot of time assessing Jack (3 hours in fact-- that's one of the things I love about the Cleveland Clinic, they are very thorough). We went through Jack's records then they examined him. Jack has chronic fluid caught in his middle ear and has very large Adnoids that aren't allowing Jack's sinus cavity and nose to drain properly (if at all). As a result, they truly believe the best choice is to insert tiny ear tubes that will allow his ear drum to drain and completely remove his adnoids. The ear tubes are smaller than a grain of rice and should stay in for about 6-18 months. They typically fall out naturally, but 10% of the time, they'll have to be removed. The procedure is pretty routine, so there's no need to be alarmed. I'm very much relieved that we are moving forward with a way to help Jack feel better

They did a Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) Hearing Test where they send music vibrations through his ear (while connected to a monitor) to track how the vibrations resonate once they hit the ear drum. They put a tiny probe is his ear canal (which Jack thought was a fun toy and pulled out numerous times :), then sent a series of pulse-type sounds towards his ear drum. The test measures the "echo" response from the outer hair cells in the inner ear is recorded. These recordings are averaged by a computer to analyze the hearing pathway. Ideally, the ear drum sends back a vibration to the original sound. Jack's left ear sent back virtually no response and his right one only responded with a low level vibration. That confirmed the diagnosis the he has a significant amount of fluid in his middle ear canal-- and most likely around his ear drum that needs to be released. Basically, the fluid prohibits the vibrations from getting through to the eardrum. Hoping that draining them helps fix his hearing troubles.

He is showing hearing loss, but they believe this is very temporary-- because of the fluid that isn't properly draining out of his ear. The hearing screens they did confirm the diagnosis and explain why his speech hasn't progressed past Mama and Bah-bah. They will re-test him a month later to see where we are. Hopefully, we'll be all set and hearing great!

His procedure will be outpatient on Tuesday 5/4. He'll be home from school for about a week as he gets better. Our main goal while he's home will be to keep him hydrated (and yes, he'll get to have his first popcicles!) and rested (this might be the harder task...he doesn't like to sit still). We also will need to keep him indoors for a bit so he stays away from pollen and other outdoor allergens. We feel really good about this and are confident with our decision. This should help keep Jack's nose from running constantly, dramatically improve his hearing (and speech development), and stop these lousy ear infections. Dr Krakovitz did notice that Jack's tonsils appear to also be enlarged, but he doesn't want to remove them now (it may need to happen in a couple of years).

They did say that he'll heal very fast from this surgery-- and that we should see a major improvement shortly after it. The Dr commented on what a great disposition Jack has-- and how social he is even though his hearing is muffled and his nose runs like a faucet. He thinks we'll have quite the "Happy Chatterbox" in now time after they do this. Can't wait to see that!!!