Sheri's Scribbles

I am so tired. That's about it. I wanted to write something and I'm too tired to really sort things out in my head. So here's one of things that are in there right now:

Yesterday, Nate had an appointment with the ENT. This child has had ear problems since birth, and yes he was breastfed until he was two and a half (maybe I am a bit of an over achiever). Anyway, he had tubes put in his ears just before his first birthday and that helped, although it didn't stop the infections. In January, he had a hearing test that came back inconclusive. It showed significant hearing loss in his left ear, but since he was barely four it was possible that it was due to him not properly responding. The test was repeated in September; it was supposed to be June, but that's how scheduling goes. The results were exactly the same as they were in January. Mild conductive hearing loss in his left ear; mild because it was only one ear. He was referred to his ENT (the same one who put in the tubes four years ago), who promptly scheduled an appointment for the end of November. See what I mean about scheduling. Good thing it wasn't anything important. So they called me on Tuesday because they needed to reschedule the appointment. Great, another three months. OR we have an opening tomorrow at 9:40am.

You know those cartoons with the little devil and angel on each shoulder. Well, I had a little mom and a little grad student on each shoulder duking it out. I had class at 11:00. The appointment is expected to last two hours. I have the prof from Hell. I won't mention any names, but if any of my peers are reading they just snorted, because they know! Anyway, mom won out. I emailed my prof and didn't receive a response. I assume he got it.

The appointment started with another hearing test, which could not be done until the Dr cleaned out his ears. Apparently, they were pretty gunky. I think that is the technical word. So, we saw the Dr who had Nate lay on the table while he probed his ears with some funky instruments through a tube with a bright light. From his right ear (his good ear) he pulled out a glob of wax as big as the end of my little finger. Gross, I know. From his left ear, it was more difficult. The stuff was softer, so he tried a vacuum. I kid you not. But, it didn't work. It was so impacted in there. He continued to scrape little by little balls of wax out. Finally, the Dr pulled out the prize wax ball and picked it apart with his tools. He pointed out to me a tube. The tube that had been put in in 2003 and should have come out in about six months. It was trapped in the wax. That's how long this wax has been building up. How gross is that.

Now, just to reassure you (and me) there is nothing I could have done about this wax. It was way in there and I couldn't even see it. Apparently, neither could the pediatrician who has checked his ears many times in the last four years. I have an issue with that, but that's a blog for another time.

Next stop, back to the audiologist for the hearing exam. Which he passed with almost flying colors. Who knew a little wax could immobilize your ear drum and make you nearly deaf. His left ear is now on the low range for normal hearing. We have to have it checked again in six months. But, I am so ecstatically happy that we got good news. We do however have to deal with residual effects of the year plus of hearing loss. He has a few mispronunciations. The ENT said he could pick them up now and catch up. If not we will need to look into speech therapy for him. But still, he can hear!

Nate was so good until the very. He was getting tired of people messing with his ears. Instead of going in to class late as planned, the mommy on my shoulder suggested pancakes (one of his favorites), so we went to lunch and had pancakes. It was a fun time. A little break from the chaos that is my life right now.