Surgery and Results

Hello all.   So Caleb had his surgery on New Year's Eve.  His teeth were capped and cleaned and thankfully none needed pulled, however a lot were capped due to him being tube fed when he was really sick.  They also put new tubes in his ears, which removed A LOT of fluid behind the ear drum.  They also, at the last minute, were able to check the puncta in his eyes.  Great news, all puncta were there and complete (meaning they drained through and to his sinuses.  Three needed to be opened and then irrigated and that caused some pretty good bruising and a black eye.  Finally, they did the CT and MRI imaging to check and see if he was a candidate for any hearing implants.

We got the results from the images today.  Some I expected.  Some made me break down into tears.  The doctor started off the conversation saying this is probably the most abnormal CT/MRI he has seen with regards to ears and the anatomy.  That made my heart sink.  He did say that Caleb's left ear is deaf, which I expected, but then it just got upsetting for me.  He explained their are two nerves in the ears that he made note of 1. the hearing nerve and 2. the balance nerve.  Caleb does not have the hearing nerve in his left ear, hence the inability to hear and an aid would not help at all.  Caleb has the hearing nerve in his right ear, but it is small, hence the significant hearing loss in his right ear.  This can be helped with his hearing aid, but we still aren't sure as to what level.  Caleb will be getting a hearing test done in the near future to see what this level is.  Dr. Kitsko then went on to discuss the balance nerve (responsible for your overall balance of your body), or should I say lack there of  :(.  He said Caleb does not have a balance nerve in his left ear at all and if he does have one in his right ear it was so small he couldn't see it.  (chocking up again as I type this).  So that explains why Caleb has the balance issues he does.  His pediatrician had mentioned this in the past, but I always held out hope that his balance problems were due to his delays.  I just feel sick.  I asked him so know what?  Does this mean Caleb will never be able to walk well?  He said he couldn't answer that.  I then asked, What can I do to help him?  He said maybe some physical therapy that focuses on some gait training may help, but he can't guarantee.  .  I started to cry when I was talking to him and then regained my composure to ask him.. so what next.  He said he definitely wanted Caleb to get a hearing test to see as to what level Caleb can hear in his 'good' ear.  Then I asked him if Caleb was even a candidate for an implant after this.  He said he thinks cochlear is not an option.  He said maybe the baha could be a possibility for the left ear but that will depend upon what the audiologist sees with the hearing test.  So plan is to get a hearing test and then see Dr. Kitsko after the test to discuss the hearing test results and if Caleb is a candidate to at least do a trail for the BAHA implant.  As far as the balance, I just am in a whirlwind of emotions right now.   Trying to process it and not get upset at work, but I am. 

I will post more updates when I have them. 

God Bless you all!!

God Bless Caleb and Camryn!!