Tubes

We met with the pediatric ENT on Tuesday this week and went through the history of ear infections, antibiotics, etc. He was really great and spent lots of time answering our questions and talking about our options. We were pretty much on the fence about putting tubes in and he wasn't pushy about it. He did tell us that Thomas would probably have 3 or 4 more ear infections this cold and flu season if we didn't but that those didn't necessarily mean you have to do tubes.

We all decided to do a hearing test, so off we go to another part of the office to meet with the audiologists. They first did a tympanometry which is a device that changes the air pressure in your ear and makes the eardrum move back and forth. A machine records the results on graphs called tympanograms. This showed some fluid in one ear and negative pressure in the other. Then Thomas and I went into the booth and did his hearing test. It was like a game for him and he did a great job. The results showed some mild hearing loss due to the fluid. His "hearing" is fine, it's the fluid that is causing the problems.

So, all that means he's getting tubes. On Monday. We have to be there at 7:30am and the surgery is at 9. It takes about 15 minutes and then he's in recovery for 30-45 minutes. We should be home before lunch and we shouldn't have any more ear infections or crummy hearing. Hopefully.