I don't know if everyone knows the whole story of Kinley's ears, but this has definitely been a drawn out ordeal. First, she had to have a hearing test at 6 months because she had been in the NICU....so, when they gave her the test at 9 months at the dr.'s office, the person that gave it to her had never done it before. It told her to refer her so we scheduled an ABR at St. Francis. Lynda and Sarah took her in September to have the test done. About a week later, we got a report from St. Francis that Kinley was completely deaf in her right ear! So, I had a freak-out and started trying little tricks, etc. to see if she could hear out of that ear! We never noticed any problem with her hearing whatsoever and were very confused. Her pediatrician then told us to make an appt with the Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. So, three weeks later, we saw Dr. White. First, they checked her hearing in many different ways and found no problem. I told the Dr. that Kinley had been pulling the ear thing out of her right ear during her test and then he asked, "Wait a minute, was she not sedated? If she wasn't sedated, that is a completely invalid ABR." So, we rescheduled her
sedated ABR for the ear, nose, and throat place. When we went in to have the test done, she had fluid in her right ear. They told me that we would need to wait until the fluid was gone. (She had fluid left over from a double ear infection) So, we rescheduled for 3 weeks later and she had fluid again. He told us that if she still had fluid 3 weeks later, then she would need to get tubes. So, inevitably, she still had fluid three weeks later.
On January 22nd, we took her in to get tubes. She was pretty funny when they gave her the "goofy juice" but it was really scary when they rolled her away in that big bed all by herself!
I was definitely not prepared for the horror after the tubes! For instance, my child was possessed! I have never seen anything like it! She freaked out completely for a good 30 minutes and no one seemed concerned at all! They said it was normal, but it was FAR from normal!
Finally, she calmed down and everything has been great since! (We still have not re-taken the ABR, but I guess we will see if the dr. recommends it next time we have a check-up.)
I know this all too well.... So sorry Kinley (and you) had to go through this! When my oldest was 11 months, we had to do tubes. I had the hardest time with him after b/c he SCREAMED & thrashed ... it was kinda creepy! The tubes DID make a huge difference in his ear issues! I hope it'll help Kinley! Hoping you're not too traumatized by it all! You'll have to keep us posted when you get the next ABR...
ReplyDeleteI had to take Gunner to have tubes put in on January 4th of this year and he was 3 and I know what you went through after surgery, Gunner screamed and cried for 45 minutes straight and I asked the nurses if this was normal and they said yes, but the other kids inthe recovery room were not acting like that so it was very stressful!!! He had fluid on his ears for about 2 years, why they didn't do tubes before now, I will never know, but he only had one ear infection his whole life. I noticed his speech was not good so I took him and had him tested at 2 years old and at 3 years old and it was worse so that is when they decided to do it. Just some info for you, it has been 2 months today and I had to take him to the doctor last week for double ear infections and he has had green slimmy stuff coming out of his ears ever since and they said it was because of the tubes, but it is really gross, so I hope everything goes good for you guys cause we have had nothing but trouble!!!
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