Our ENT Visit...

Brewer was such a good little boy on our visit to the ENT. I was so proud of him.

He only cried a little when Dr. Jones checked his ears, which of course had fluid in them.

The diagnosis was something like 'persistent effusion'. Basically, Brewer is prone to ear infections. Given the large amounts of problems he has had in such a short span of time at a young age, it looks like we can either do the tubes or we can basically have a revolving door to the doctor's office.

First we saw the doctor, who examined little Brew. Then we went back out in the waiting room until the audiologist called us for a hearing test. The first test was one where they blew air into his ears to see if it moved his eardrums...No dice. Not to hard to understand, given that he had so much fluid behind them. The second test was to check the movement of his eardrums given different frequencies of sound. His right ear failed miserably. His left ear barely passed. The audiologist said that he probably passed in his left because that was the ear that had ruptured, so it had less fluid in it than the other. She said he can hear, but that its really muffled so to make sure that he is looking at us when we talk to him, because if we have his attention visually, we know he is trying to listen to us. Poor baby fell asleep in the middle of the screening. He was just 'spent'.

Then we saw the doctor again. He reassured us that because Brew passed his newborn screening, his poor scores on the hearing tests are likely to be temporary and that his hearing will go back to normal once his tubes are in. We'll find out at a follow-up testing four weeks after his tubes go in.

After we met with Dr. Jones, his nurse came in and scheduled the surgery and the follow-up appointment. All in all, it was a really good experience and the people couldn't have been nicer.

Brewer's surgery is three weeks from today. In the meantime, they want to keep him comfortable, so they said if he starts to look like he has an infection, to let them know and they'll call him in a course of antibiotics - SO nice.

One thing Dr. Jones mentioned when examining B's throat and mouth is that his frenulum (the underside of his tongue) is extended. This can sometimes cause issues with speech and with feeding. I'm going to ask the pediatrician about it at their 6 month appointment.

So, that's the update. All in all, I'd say it went well. I'm glad to be home for the weekend now so I can stay home and snuggle my little sweeties.