Nasal Balloons to Surgery

You may remember a while back, I blogged about my son and his ears.  Although his hearing has improved, he still has fluid behind the ear drum, so he is to have grommets fitted.

He has been booked in for his surgery in June.  It will be done under general anaesthetic and take less than an hour and he should be fine to go home the same day.

We are nervous for him.  We want the issue corrected, as the older he gets, likely the worse it will get.

Nasal balloons worked well for him, but if he were older they may have worked better as it is difficult getting a youngster to use these exactly as it says in the instructions. 

We have explained everything that will happen and what to expect; especially the use of ear plugs while swimming and washing his hair.
The grommets falling out over time and the ear healing itself.

He has taken it all in his stride, with lots of questions, which has led me to do loads of reading about it.
We are the ones who are nervous about it all though.  Can feel my stomach knotting as I think about him being under general and he is having what is considered a minor operation.

More Ears Dears

Last hospital appointment of the year for the family goes to my son, Aden, who had his check up for his hearing.  You may remember me stating that I got a referral for his hearing as I concerned that the selective hearing was more than just childhood refusal to listen to parents. Doctor could not see any issue when looking in his ear and school had not mentioned it, so there was seemingly no issue, just me saying I am sure the TV is too loud and he cannot hear me properly.  On referral they confirmed that he had glue ear and his hearing was not at the level expected.

Cue 6 months of Otovent (Nasal Balloon) treatment and a follow up appointment halfway through the treatment, with significant improvement in the hearing test (though still below the level expected), which I was sure would be the case; TV volume a lot lower and true selective hearing.  

Well the last hospital appointment started with meeting the consultant, a look at his ears, a determination that he still had fluid behind the ear drums and a recommendation that he have a small operation to insert a grommet into each ear drum.

The off we went for his hearing test and then back to the consultant who reported with a surprise in his voice that Aden's hearing was now normal but that he did indeed still have fluid behind the ear.  How much is not quantifiable just a view of, fluid behind the ear drum = yes/no

Much more difficult to sell the operation at that point, but as the consultant put it, "we cannot say what the long term effect of fluid behind the ear drum is, even though his hearing is now normal"

The next 4 months will be interesting to see what will happen.  He will have another hearing test and check for fluid behind the ear before the operation but he is now on the waiting list and we are continuing the Otovent treatment.