loss #2

In September we took Madie to see her audiologist, Mr. Glen, because we were concerned that she was not hearing at the level she should.  He tested her in the sound booth, and she did have a 20 decibel loss in both ears.  After a quick tympanogram, we found out she had fluid in both ears so we were off to Mid City and Dr. Ritch.  Our sweet baby girl had double ear infections and had not once complained about the pain.  We did a 10 day round of antibiotics, a 7 day steroid, and a decongestant/anti-histamine.  After a month, we went back to Dr. Ritch and there was still fluid in her ears.  This brought on a trip to an ENT, Dr. Watkins, who said we didn't need any more treatment, just time.

In December, we were ready for our return test to Mr. Glen.   When we sat down in his office, he asked me what I thought was going on.  My response:  better than she was in September, but not where she was in April (her last "normal" appointment).  And sometimes, it just sucks to be right.  Madie had, for the first time since her original diagnosis in 2006, lost more hearing.  We decided, since she only had one more day of school before Christmas break, not to adjust her hearing aids.  In January, we saw Mr. Glen so he could retest her, just to make sure it wasn't a false negative and we got the same results.  So he adjusted her hearing aids accordingly and she still hears at the level she did before -- she was back to her normal.  We followed that appointment with one to a new ENT -- Dr. Rice.

It was a tough decision to decide to switch ENT's.  Even though our previous one came very highly recommended by several people in the know, we had never felt completely comfortable with him.  Not so with Dr. Rice.  Finally, I feel like we're going to get some answers or at the very least we have someone willing to search for them.  He was explaining that he wanted Madie to have an MRI and a CT scan but that we might be in for a fight with our insurance.  His exact words were "but I feel like when you have one so young with so much at stake, you should leave no stone unturned."  It was wonderful to hear that.  W.O.N.D.E.R.F.U.L.

So tomorrow day one in our search.  I love these twins.