Yesterday was Malachi's ENT appointment and what we found out isn't nearly as bad as we'd first expected. Malachi does have thick syrup-like fluid in his right ear which is pressing on his eardrum, not allowing it to work correctly. This is why he has the low tone hearing loss. This hearing loss will NOT get any worse (yeah!!!) and is NOT permanent (yippee!!!).
We could have done tubes again if Josh and I pushed for it, but Dr. Mucha really doesn't want to immediately put him into surgery again. It's only been one week since we noticed Malachi holding a toy to his ear and we don't want rush into anything. We are giving him nasal spray once a day in the hopes that it will help to thin the fluid and his body will heal itself and remove the fluid from his ear. We go back in 6 weeks for another check up and if the fluid remains the same or gets worse, we will look into doing tubes (and who knows what else) at that time.
While we still have concerns about Malachi falling behind, we respect Dr. Mucha for not wanting to go right to surgery, as we don't want to subject our children to surgery if it's not needed. We were assured that it would not get worse, so we hope that he will not fall further behind developmentally. As of today, Malachi is still hearing us when we talk to him, talking like crazy, and singing and dancing to music. If we begin to notice more signs that his hearing is getting worse, then we will go in sooner than the 6 weeks, but for now we are pleased with what we found out and are trying to be patient with our waiting time. Thanks to all who prayed for us...we appreciate it.
Thank goodness! I'm praying for more good news in 6 weeks -- that the fluid is all gone!
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