Jake's ENT Appointment

We took Jake back to the ENT this morning for a follow-up appointment. We were hoping that the 21-day round of antibiotics that he was on would clear up the infection he had in his left ear, and relieve some of the fluid in his right ear so that his ear drum, which was retracted, would fix itself.

When we got there, Jake was called back to do a hearing test. The lady doing the test kept repeating it in his left ear, trying to get him to recognize just one more frequency. When the ear hears a sound, it emits a sound back, and that is what she was measuring. She told us that if the kid hears six of eight frequencies, it's considered passing, and Jake was hearing five. She said that most kids can't hear the other two because the room isn't soundproof, and the frequency is so low. Between Jake pulling on the earphone and the fluid in his ear, he never did get the sixth frequency. Then we went into a soundproof room, and she talked to Jake over a speaker to see if he would respond to her voice. He did, for the most part. Well, as much as you'd expect a one year old to respond.

Then we went back to see the doctor, who told us that Jake's hearing is about 20-30% diminshed. He checked his nose (perfect!) and his throat (not red), and then looked in his ears. The infection from the left ear had cleared up, but there was still fluid there, and he developed a new infection in his right ear, and the eardrum was still retracted. The doctor told us that he would recommend surgery, but would also be okay if we decided we just wanted to watch if for a bit more to see what happens. Jake's already been dealing with this since at least December, so we decided to go ahead with the surgery and get tubes placed in his ears.

The doctor was very patient with all of my questions (and there were lots of questions), and he didn't get offended when I asked him how many of these surgeries he's performed (3000-4000, he says) and how many of those he botched (none, according to him). We scheduled the surgery for next Friday, June 5. Even though we know it is a very common procedure for kids, its still very scary for our family.

Oh, and the doctor told us that his high temperature from this past weekend was likely related to the new ear infection in Jake's right ear. Mystery solved.