Another bout with ear infections

As most of you know, Jadon and Micah have both had tubes in their ears at one time or another. Jadon had his put in about 18 months ago. The idea is that some kids' Eustachian tubes are not long enough or have enough to drain properly. A surgeon puts tubes into their eardrums to allow fluid to drain and prevent pressure from building and perforating the eardrum as well as minimizing the ability of bacteria to grow in the ear canal. They typically fall out as the child grows sometime between one and two years after placement.

Some kids respond so well, they never have another ear infection. My boys have not done quite that well, but when they go from constant ear infections with no relief to occasional ear infections that respond well to antibiotics, who can complain? However, about two months ago, Jadon came down with a raging ear infection that was unresponsive to antibiotics. We saw his ENT physician on Monday, and she confirmed my fear. One tube is out completely and the other is only partially in the eardrum, rendering it completely ineffective. So Jadon is going to have 2 new tubes put in a couple weeks from now, as well as having his adenoids removed.

I'm so thankful for the doctors that we have right now. His ENT works closely with an audiologist who sees each child with ear infections before and after surgery. Jadon's hearing is poor right now, which is to be expected and hopefully will be rectified by the surgery. But the audiologist always does a baseline reading and explains it thoroughly. That way, if we have concerns about his hearing sometime in the future, we can have a better idea of the reason for any hearing difficulties as well as whether we should expect improvement.

As I write this, I'm reminded of how blessed we are to have a pediatrician who has taken our concerns so seriously. Jadon had his tubes put in after 4 infections, rather than 13 that Micah had. The last 6 weeks or so of not feeling well, Jadon has remained a pretty happy, loving little guy, despite the pain he has had to be in. He'll probably have the infection right up until surgery, when they'll clean everything out. I can't stop thinking of how God has protected his hearing by providing such excellent physicians. Many times, kids with repeated unresolved ear infections wind up with scar tissue in their ears and resulting in hearing loss. Thankfully, that has not been the case for my boys. Please keep us in your prayers as we wait for surgery. It's not anything new to us, but that doesn't keep it from been a little unnerving.

We'll keep you posted.