Our Trip to the ENT

This morning we had our appointment with the ENT.  I was extremely nervous about the visit although hopeful for good news.  With the numerous ear infections (5 to be exact, read about them here, here, here, here) I figured I wasn't going to get the news I wanted.  My hope was that Carter wouldn't need ear tubes and therefore surgery.  Our appointment started with a quick hearing test.  They inserted a soft plug in his ears to check the mobility of his ear drum.  Then we sat in a chair in a special room.  They used a computer in the room looking into ours to make noises in different areas of our room.  Once Carter looked that direction there was a toy that would light up to keep his attention.  One toy was a teddy bear playing the drums, one was a cat that would walk, and I don't remember what the last one was.  For some reason I couldn't stop laughing.  Seeing his head pop around to see what all the noise was about totally cracked me up.  I think a little bit of it had to do with my nerves as well.  Darn that nervous laughter I get when I'm worried about Carter!

After the hearing test we were taken back to a room to wait for the doctor.  We had to wait for a while and Carter was very good.  At first he just sat quietly playing in his chair looking like such a big boy.  Then he tried to climb on the table, so I got him down and we walked around the room.  He wanted to continuously walk circles and I started getting dizzy so I was very thankful when he noticed the silver foot rest of the chair in the middle of the room.  The game then became climbing up onto the platform and then back down to the floor over and over.  He was so adorable and would laugh as he stood on top.  Eventually he lost interest in that and we looked through magazines and I pointed out pictures.  We found a picture of a dog which he repeatedly pointed at and said "dody" over and over.  He loves dogs!  I pointed out a picture of a baby and said baby over and over.  He repeated baby after me.

King of the foot rest!

When the doctor came in we must have looked strange sitting there on the floor.  He was extremely nice and very sweet about looking in Carter's ears.  I was quick to let him know Carter won't be in daycare come June in hopes that would sway the decision on whether he needed tubes or not.  Unfortunately after a quick look in Carter's ears he explained that Carter has fluid in his middle ear which is causing him some hearing difficulty.  He was quite impressed with how Carter did on his hearing test and was surprised he could hear as well as he can.  He then showed me the results on how his ear drum is functioning.  A normal ear drum results in a peaked pattern.  Carter's results showed a "flat line" which means his ear drum did not vibrate normally.  The doctor described what things sound like to Carter as when you or I push down on our ears (like when you are a kid bugging a sibling and "plug" your ears so as not to hear them).  Everything is muffled to him and the noises and sounds he's making are much louder in his head.  Why he enjoys screaming and screeching so much when it's louder in his head is beyond me.  Due to Carter's hearing difficulties his speech is a bit delayed.  He's still saying 6 words with frequency and accuracy (mommy, daddy, kitty cat, doggy, and ball) but that's about it.  Everything else he copy cats after we say it or just isn't proficient.  He's working on Harper and it typically sounds like pa-par, which is adorable.  When they put the tubes in they will suck the fluid out.  Removing the fluid should improve Carter's balance (which could be part of his "confidence" issue when it came to walking) and his speech.

The picture on the left shows a normal middle ear.  The picture on the right shows one with fluid like Carter's.

I left the office completely scared, but knowing the procedure is the best thing for Carter.  I can be a bit dramatic at times and of course my head goes to the place, would it be better for him to have some hearing, speech, and balance issues or to not wake up from anesthesia?  Of course I'd rather him have the hearing, speech, and balance issues.  But then I would never give him any medication, allow him to have any surgery, or even go on car rides if I thought like that.  I have to believe in the doctors and especially the anesthesiologist who do this every day.  Carter is a healthy boy and should have no complications.  His surgery is set for Monday, March 24th.  Please keep us in your thoughts as I'm sure to be a nervous wreck for those 10-15 minutes he is under anesthesia.  If only they'd let me stand right beside him the whole time to make sure he is breathing!