Fabulous Army Life

Trey is ready to test. He repeats words and clicks the button when he hears 'beeps.' Since Trey had his third tympanoplasty in November, it was time for him to see the audiologist at Darnall to check his hearing.  I am convinced that having a book in his hand is much more detrimental to his hearing than surgical procedures on his eardrums, but it was time to test regardless. The audiologist was fabulous with him, answering his string of questions and making him feel right at home in the tiny, sound-proof, dark, enclosed room where he tested.  It turns out that his hearing is normal in both ears!  We are so thankful that his hearing has not been adversely affected by the surgeries.  His right ear (which all three surgeries were performed on) shows slightly less hearing than his left, but is well within the normal range ... and is typical for a surgical ear. As we were leaving, we saw Trey's Otolaryngologist (which is one of Trey's favorite people AND one ...

Ugh.  My eldest child had an Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) appointment today and found out that he will need a THIRD tympanoplasty on one ear.  A tympanoplasty is a surgery where the eardrum has to be manually repaired after a rupture does not repair on its own.  If you are inordinately interested in the surgery itself, you can find more on Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tympanoplasty . So, my precious firstborn had one of these surgeries at age five and another at age nine and now is scheduling his third.  There is something about your own child being associated with hospital gowns, anesthesia, and incisions that is just unsettling. This is our second hospital and third surgeon and I am assured that this surgery will be successful.  In other words, we won't have to plan a fourth surgery.  Here's hoping!