Thursday, January 10, 2008

Chronic Ear Infections

Since October, Ella has painfully experienced three double ear infections. It is obviously very hard on all of us because she has a hard time sleeping, which means the whole house does as well. We decided that we didn't want to just sit back and watch them continue, so we took Ella to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor at the end of December. He determined that there is still fluid build up in her middle ear even after the infection was gone. This doctor suggested that we have tubes put in her ears and have her enlarged adnoids removed. We decided not to take this surgery lightly, and went to a different ENT for a second opinion.

The second doctor that we saw was excellent. The office was very kid-friendly and they explained everything in great detail. The audiologist on the staff also did tests to check if the fluid was disturbing her hearing. Turns out that her right ear is significantly blocked with fluid and therefore she has a very hard time hearing out of it clearly. Her left ear does have fluid, but not enough to significantly affect her hearing. Which is good news because it shouldn't delay her speech.

This new doctor did strongly suggest getting the tubes put in because if 4 bouts of antibiotics did nothing to get rid of fluid, he doesn't think it will come out on its own. He also suggested having her adenoids taken out as well. We have decided to schedule the out-patient surgery for sometime at the end of the month. The procedure is only 40 minutes long and she is even able to go back to school the very next day.

Thanks for reading the world's longest post, and I post again once we schedule a date for the surgery.

And so the post isn't all words...here is a picture of Ella lounging in her chair.

2 comments:

Jill said...

Oh man does that just stink, but we at the Lamz resident know exactly how you are all feeling. Unfortunately, our doctor thinks Owen is heading down this same path. Hang in there!

Gramma said...

We are so glad that the doctor will be able to help Ella.
We are praying for you all.
Love, Great Grandpa Bob & Gramma & Grampa