On Friday we met with Harrison's Ears, Nose, and Throat (ENT) doctor. This was an appt. we had been waiting for since Harrison's last ear infection.
As parents we have a HUGE concern with the number of ear infections Harrison has had. If you need a reminder, he has had 12 in 12 months, 6 ear infections since his tube placement in December.
Harrison's ENT doctor is Dr. Case. Dr. Case informed us that he has seen other children with as many ear infections as Harrison despite the tubes and the water precautions we take. In fact he said, some of his patients get an ear infection with every single cold (just like Harrison). Dr. Case said Harrison is still young and his prematurity is against him. His hope is Harrison will out grow these infections with time and maturity. However, we can't keep going down the same road with multiple, multiple infections that have only been effectively treated with oral antibiotics. The next step we will take is to have Harrison see an ENT doctor with the next ear infection. At the appointment he will have his ears suctioned out and medication directly blown into the tubes. If this does not treat the infection he will go on oral antibiotics. In this case is Harrison has 2-3 more ear infections over the summer he will need to have a second round of ear surgery. In the second surgery the Dr. Case will remove Harrison adenoids and take out his current tubes and place another set of tubes with antibiotics in them. However, with the second surgery there is no guarantee that this will be "fix" to ear infections. Dr. Case said, I would like to tell you, "this would be a cure to everything, but sometimes it just doesn't work, so I wouldn't want you to get your hopes up." Doug and I brought up low dose antibiotics regimen. Dr. Case feels this is not an option at this time. Treating him on low dose antibiotics would make his ear infections even harder to treat if he were to get one on the antibiotic.
There is no cure to put it short. Dr. Case told Harrison on his way out, "You have been warned, I don't want to operate on you again." And we did get a compliment on how hard it was for the nurse, Doug, and I to hold Harrison down during this exam. This was much like we got for the compliment for his chest x-ray. We have a fighter!
Harrison will see Dr. Case in one month. His hearing will be retested at this time as well. To the best of out knowledge Harrison has no permanent hearing loss as a result of his prematurity and ear infections. However, Harrison lacks verbal communication. At 18 months he says uh-oh (that's it). In previous months he said "Momma," "Duck," "Bird," and "Bye Bye." Dr. Case brought up speech therapy, but said at 18 months he still too young for that. I honestly don't think any age is too young----I don't want to wait until he is three to start therapy. It would make sense to address a developmental issue a.s.a.p. and not to expect this is something that will improve with age. And to be honest, it kills me that he doesn't call me Momma. If you ask him where Momma is he points. His understanding is amazing. Sign language has been our best means of effective communication. Regardless of how we communicate, we know he loves us whether he calls us by name or not.
For the future, our hope is to work more closely with the audiologist from birth to 3 and continue to focus on speech with the birth to 3 teacher. The teacher will meet with Harrison frequently as he starts the transition to the toddler room on June 13.
We also meet with a auto-immune/allergery specialist on July 7th to see if they can shed some light on Harrison's immunity.
As parents we have a HUGE concern with the number of ear infections Harrison has had. If you need a reminder, he has had 12 in 12 months, 6 ear infections since his tube placement in December.
Harrison's ENT doctor is Dr. Case. Dr. Case informed us that he has seen other children with as many ear infections as Harrison despite the tubes and the water precautions we take. In fact he said, some of his patients get an ear infection with every single cold (just like Harrison). Dr. Case said Harrison is still young and his prematurity is against him. His hope is Harrison will out grow these infections with time and maturity. However, we can't keep going down the same road with multiple, multiple infections that have only been effectively treated with oral antibiotics. The next step we will take is to have Harrison see an ENT doctor with the next ear infection. At the appointment he will have his ears suctioned out and medication directly blown into the tubes. If this does not treat the infection he will go on oral antibiotics. In this case is Harrison has 2-3 more ear infections over the summer he will need to have a second round of ear surgery. In the second surgery the Dr. Case will remove Harrison adenoids and take out his current tubes and place another set of tubes with antibiotics in them. However, with the second surgery there is no guarantee that this will be "fix" to ear infections. Dr. Case said, I would like to tell you, "this would be a cure to everything, but sometimes it just doesn't work, so I wouldn't want you to get your hopes up." Doug and I brought up low dose antibiotics regimen. Dr. Case feels this is not an option at this time. Treating him on low dose antibiotics would make his ear infections even harder to treat if he were to get one on the antibiotic.
There is no cure to put it short. Dr. Case told Harrison on his way out, "You have been warned, I don't want to operate on you again." And we did get a compliment on how hard it was for the nurse, Doug, and I to hold Harrison down during this exam. This was much like we got for the compliment for his chest x-ray. We have a fighter!
Harrison will see Dr. Case in one month. His hearing will be retested at this time as well. To the best of out knowledge Harrison has no permanent hearing loss as a result of his prematurity and ear infections. However, Harrison lacks verbal communication. At 18 months he says uh-oh (that's it). In previous months he said "Momma," "Duck," "Bird," and "Bye Bye." Dr. Case brought up speech therapy, but said at 18 months he still too young for that. I honestly don't think any age is too young----I don't want to wait until he is three to start therapy. It would make sense to address a developmental issue a.s.a.p. and not to expect this is something that will improve with age. And to be honest, it kills me that he doesn't call me Momma. If you ask him where Momma is he points. His understanding is amazing. Sign language has been our best means of effective communication. Regardless of how we communicate, we know he loves us whether he calls us by name or not.
For the future, our hope is to work more closely with the audiologist from birth to 3 and continue to focus on speech with the birth to 3 teacher. The teacher will meet with Harrison frequently as he starts the transition to the toddler room on June 13.
We also meet with a auto-immune/allergery specialist on July 7th to see if they can shed some light on Harrison's immunity.
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