Re: ear drum reconstruction

[Guest guest]

This must be a tremendous blow to you and a huge worry. Don't worry, you'll

adapt and soon you'll be handling this like any other crisis in life. You

mourn, pick up the pieces and move on. The good news is that your chld is

in a country where he can get the help he needs. I have friends who had

their childrens' ears rebuilt after a similar situation. Some were fine,

others were not. Most were better than they were before. I would make sure

that you're at the best hospital with the most experience in this matter.

Do not let the doctors convince you that all will be fine if your child can

only hear in one ear. He can readily acquire language but will need some

accommodations. He will have trouble telling where sound is coming from

since you need two ears to tell that. There is an infinitesmal timing

difference in between when sound hits each ear that we don't recognize but

that tells us which direction a sound is coming from. Secondly, he will have

trouble in noisy environments and will need classroom accommodations.

You'll also need to make sure that your sitting on his good side when you

talk to him. I automatically always move myself to any person's left

because I'm so used to doing it with my son since its the only ear he ever

heard anything out of.

You're in the right place with alot of people to guide you through the

process of understanding hearing loss. Have his surgery, see what the

results are in terms of hearnig and then start from that baseline. Don't

worry until you know what you're dealing with...he could be very lucky.

Most important right now, is to protect that right ear. Don't let your son

immerse it in pool water, a bath, etc. Keep it dry and clean to preserve all

of his hearing in that ear. Don't expose him to loud sounds like loud

music, vacuums, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, gunblasts, planes, etc to

preserve his hearing. Make sure you stay on top of any possible infection.

Make sure that you face your son so that he can lip read you and speak

slowly and clearly. Try to find out why he has fluid...allergies, chronic

sinusitis, etc and see what can be done to minimize the fluid which can lead

to infections.

Most of all, love him for who he is...he is no different than he was before.

Just, now you know that he can't hear as well. Hearing doesn't affect his

heart or his soul, even though yours may be struggling right now in trying

to deal with all of this.

Just take a big ((hug))) from all of us and realize that it'll be okay no

matter what because you'll make him okay, which is why he was sent to you

ear drum reconstruction

> My son had an ear exam under anesthesia this morning. He ended up

> with a tube in the right ear because there's fluid. But on the left

> side the dr couldn't put in a tube because the ear drum is almost

> entirely destroyed from untreated infections (my son is a recent

> foreign adoptee...) and the anvil is also pretty much gone (also the

> result apparently of long term infections). So the good thing is

> that his right ear is likely to be OK long-term. But i'm not sure

> what the prognosis is on the left... our dr said they will try and

> rebuild the left drum and anvil. Anyone have a child who's had that

> done? Any words of wisdom?

>

>

>

> mom to Zak, 3, HFM

> and Zoe, 3

>

>

>

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>

[Guest guest]

,

I am really sorry to hear this. I haven't experienced ear drum reconstruction,

I just wanted to let you know, I'm thinking about you and hoping all goes well.

I am assuming that his ear drum being so messed up is really making his hearing

bad right? Does the doctor expect it to get better after the reconstruction or

is this soley to drain the fluid? I can't imagine the pain that child has been

through to have infections so bad that his ear drum is destroyed. You will be

in my prayers.

ear drum reconstruction

[Guest guest]

,

I am really sorry to hear this. I haven't experienced ear drum reconstruction,

I just wanted to let you know, I'm thinking about you and hoping all goes well.

I am assuming that his ear drum being so messed up is really making his hearing

bad right? Does the doctor expect it to get better after the reconstruction or

is this soley to drain the fluid? I can't imagine the pain that child has been

through to have infections so bad that his ear drum is destroyed. You will be

in my prayers.

ear drum reconstruction

[Guest guest]

> This must be a tremendous blow to you and a huge worry.

Actually, we think of this news as really positive (all things

consisdered)--one ear is structurally fine and that's more than we

expected.

>Try to find out why he has fluid...allergies, chronic

> sinusitis, etc and see what can be done to minimize the fluid

which can lead to infections.

The cause of the fluid is a known issue--he has a cranio facial

anomoly along with a cleft lip and palate. His lip and the

superficial palate were repaired before we met him, but he has a

submucous cleft palate that still needs to be fixed. We're hoping to

get that done in the next few months.

Thx for the comments--

mom to Zak, 3, HFM

and Zoe, 3

[Guest guest]

> This must be a tremendous blow to you and a huge worry.

Actually, we think of this news as really positive (all things

consisdered)--one ear is structurally fine and that's more than we

expected.

>Try to find out why he has fluid...allergies, chronic

> sinusitis, etc and see what can be done to minimize the fluid

which can lead to infections.

The cause of the fluid is a known issue--he has a cranio facial

anomoly along with a cleft lip and palate. His lip and the

superficial palate were repaired before we met him, but he has a

submucous cleft palate that still needs to be fixed. We're hoping to

get that done in the next few months.

Thx for the comments--

mom to Zak, 3, HFM

and Zoe, 3