On Wednesday, Benjamin had a follow up with the pediatrician. Everything looked great, and Benjamin was given a clean bill of health. The doctor said that he came through the whole meningitis thing pretty much unscathed, and we just had to wait for the results from a hearing test.
Today was the day for the hearing screening. As the doctor was checking Benjamin out before the screening, he noticed some fluid in Ben's ear. The audiologist did a pressure test, and it turns out that Benjamin had a lot of fluid on both his ears, which is fairly abnormal for a baby his age. Upon further checking, the ENT determined that Benjamin also has an ear infection. We were unable to do the hearing test today, due to all the fluid. He is back on antibiotics, and we're already starting to look at the possibility of tubes.
the ENT doesn't think that the ear problems are related to the meningitis, it's just something else that we're going to have to deal with. Thankfully, it's nothing major, and his long term prognosis is still great!
Please keep him in your prayers as we travel this weekend. He's been pretty cranky the past few days (for obvious reasons!) and isn't sleeping well. Thanks!
4 comments:
Anna-Kate and Ayden both had many ear infections in those first months and thus many antibiotics, probably too many. I was sooo afraid of getting tubes, but then Ayden's ears were hardly ever clear so, eventually, we did the tubes for him. I don't know what I was so afraid of, it was no big deal and he never had another ear infection after that. If we had it to do over again, we would have done the tubes for both of them and much earlier than we did for Ayden. Thankfully, Asa was a pretty healthy baby, as far as ears go. I don't think he's had an antibiotic yet, but if he had had even 1 ear infection, I think we would've gone to the ENT first. Anyway, this was just our experience. Please feel free to take it or leave it.
On another note, thanks for the comment you left me. Thanks even more for your prayers. You are such an encourager. I love you.
I had ear problems-infections, fluid, hearing loss, etc...when I was a young child. My mom took me to many specialists who all would say immediately to put tubes in my ears. She felt like not many of them were thorough and seemed to be eager to place tubes. So, she found a specialist that was interested in doing allergy tests first. Turned out I had 80-something % hearing loss because I was allergic to MILK! I'm assuming he's not drinking any milk but yours, but maybe another allergy? Anyway, like the previous comment says, this is just friendly information, as I know many many people who have had tubes placed and it was totally no big deal. We're just so glad little Benjamin is feeling better because we know Mommy and Daddy are now, too!
What a trooper, he's really had to experience a lot for such a little guy lately. Hopefully he'll feel all better and stay all better!
Caleb was sick last weekend (only a low grade temp and not even a visit to the doctor's office) and I was surprised at how hard it was on me. I'd much rather be sick myself than have my child sick. So I can only imagine how challenging this was for you with Benjamin being hospitalized. I'm glad he's doing better and that it wasn't too serious.
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