Robin had a follow up yesterday for the ear he had surgery in March on. The surgery (second one--first one didn't work) was to repair a hole a tube left after being in there five years. They'd told us it'd fallen out after two, but they just didn't see it in there. Anyway, there was a little hearing loss in that ear because of the hole and the doctor said it was significant enough to effect him in school and the surgery would take care of it. Well, the surgery worked in the sense that the hole is repaired. BUT, the scar tissue on the eardrum is causing mild hearing loss! Regular hearing is between 0-20db. Robin's left ear is somewhere between 21-40db. That doesn't sound like a lot, but from what I'm reading it can cause all kinds of problems, especially in school. Well, gosh! Where have we BEEN having problems lately??? The audiologist that did the hearing test was really nice. She was explaining to me some of the ways we could help Robin (preferential seating, an FM system the school could install, possible hearing aid--not really absolutely necessary but an option, etc) and then the doctor came in, looked at the results and said, "You're good--we'll see you in a year" and basically shooed us out. I'm going to call the office today and have them send me the results so I have something to share with the school. His hearing came up at the last IEP meeting along with some other issues, including a possible LD (the school's doing more testing). The audiologist did suggest I call the school districts audiologist. Robin has failed the school's screening for his left ear for the past few years. Ugh!!! So I'm bummed that Robin has to deal with all of this and ticked off that the surgery that was supposed to fix his mild hearing loss CAUSED a mild hearing loss! Robin went through heck with those two surgeries!!! I keep remembering the pain the poor kid was in, the vomiting on the way home from the hospital, the stitches after the second surgery, etc... Why did I put my poor baby through all that? What was the point? He doesn't seem to be affected or upset about all this, but I am! All he heard though was that the surgery worked (it fixed the hole). I don't think he realizes he even has hearing loss in that ear, other than the audiologist telling him he does. That's the way he's been hearing for years now and before tubes he had constant fluid in his ears so it's an improvement! I almost regret having the tubes put in (twice at that!). I'm ticked that the pediatritian and ENT four years ago missed that stupid tube! Robin has enough to deal with--he doesn't need this! But what can I do?

Thanx for letting me rant. I'm not really looking for anything from this post. I just needed to get this off my chest.

By Tarable on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 09:00 am:

{{{{{HUGS}}}}} Don't really have any comments except good luck with the school.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 09:14 am:

{{{HUGS}}}

By Tink on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:12 am:

I'm so sorry, Cat. {{{Hugs}}} I wish I knew what more to say.

By Conni on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:20 am:

(((Mucho HUGS!)))

That is a lot to go through. Vent away!

By Cocoabutter on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 03:15 pm:

I had tubes when I was 12 or so, and they didn't cause this many problems! Good luck and

(((((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))

By Cat on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 09:39 am:

I called the hospital and they said records requests have to be in writing so they're sending me the paperwork to fill out. I'm going to request ALL of his hearing tests in the past year. The audiologist did say that this hearing test had the same results as the one 6 weeks after the second surgery (six months ago). I'd like to compare this one to the one before the first surgery (when the ENT told me it was significant enough to warrent the surgery). Maybe the scar tissue will thin in the next year.

Thanx for all the hugs.