Yep, both Jonathan and Elijah need to have tubes placed in their ears to help drain any fluid that may be built up behind their eardrums. Elijah's will be a very quick procedure on Dec. 14th, but Jonathan's will take a bit longer on the 21st as they want to do a sedated ABR hearing test (which stands for auditory brainstem response). This test can take up to 2 hours.
The ENT doctor did not see any signs of infection in either of the boys' ears, so we are being aggressive with the tubes and that's fine by me. They need every chance they can get to help develop normal speech, and hearing is an important part of that. Yesterday, the audiologist did a very quick tympanogram (measurement of the energy passing through the middle ear) on Elijah, and both ears were "flat", unlike his test a couple of weeks ago where his left ear showed some movement. (This might explain his increase in behavior problems as of late? We'll see.)
This procedure is VERY common in kids with Down syndrome. The doctor explained to me that usually their ear canals are smaller and also shaped differently. This allows fluid to build up in the eardrum even without an infection. See, I'm learning all sorts of new things these days!
Speaking of which, (admitting my lack of knowledge here) I never knew where the "tubes" went in the ear. I had heard about it of course, but never really knew. Click HERE and go to the 11th slide on the slide show. This photo shows the tube in the eardrum. The doctor showed me an actual "tube" in the office and it is of course super tiny. It looks like a microscopic spool. They operate under a microscope. Who knew? :-)
Bottom line - Elijah and Jonathan are getting a GREAT Christmas gift this year! The GIFT OF HEARING! (Lord willing the tubes will return their hearing to normal.)
Oh, one last thing I don't think I posted about. Elijah passed his vision test too. He's a tad far-sighted, but not enough for the doctor to treat him. We'll follow up in a year.
2 comments:
Good news on the tubes for both. We are very thankful for our girls and can tell their hearing is much better thus speech is much clearer.
Praying for a successful surgery for both. No recovery to speak of! Dariya slept the day away and then was full steam ahead after the anesthesia wore off.
Getting tubes can be a miracle... My daughter age 5 in kindergarten used to wear hearing aids. We decided this year to get a new set of tubes put in (supposedly a better quality). IT worked!!!! She does not have to wear her hearing aids anymore!! Not sure it helped the behavior thing just yet, but praying it does for you <3
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