...Drumroll please...
Everything is perfect! His tubes look great, his eardrums have healed properly around them, and most importantly, he passed his hearing test with flying colors! The difference in his responses from a month ago to now was really amazing. Dr. Kenealy was thrilled with the results and we don't have to go back for another 4 months.
As a side note, one of the most frustrating things about tubes is dealing with the earplugs / limiting his exposure to water. We had a conversation with the doctor about it today (as Jack's earplugs always seem to fall out right as we are rinsing his hair in the bath. Sigh.) They gave us a neoprene headband of sorts to go over the earplugs and keep them in. This will be fine for bathing, but what about the question of swimming? He has to wear that thing all summer while splashing in the pool??? We are still debating about this.
There are lots of resources out there that say poolwater will not harm him (see this article: http://www.drgreene.com/qa/swimming-ear-tubes and this article http://www.pedisurg.com/PtEducENT/tubes.htm.) There are other out there that say kids absolutely MUST wear earplugs during any water exposure...and although our doctor doesn't say it's a must, he does recommend the antibiotic ear drops after any accidental water exposure. So... for now we are debating what to do. We may try letting him splash around the pool without them and see if he gets infected. He is going to HATE the neoprene headband...sometimes as a parent you have to pick your battles!
Anyway, we have a clean bill of health and we are ready to enjoy our VERY BUSY summer! :)
Yay! I am so happy to hear that Jack passed his hearing test and he isn't having any further ear problems.
ReplyDeleteMy brother had tubes in his ears as well as a little boy. It was always an issue with the ear plugs, headband etc. Good luck figuring everything out....and hopefully it won't last forever!