Brewer's Ear

    Last year Brewer got ear tubes and it was amazing to say the least. We all enjoyed them so much. Ear infections seemed like no big deal and he hardly ever complained about the pain. The drops weren't his favorite when he did have ear infections, but he was a champ and tolerated them. In September one of the tubes came out. At a regular check up, his pediatrician could tell that there was a pretty big hole left in his ear drum from the tube. Daaaaaang it!! So we made an appointment with Brew's ENT at PCH and headed down for a visit. Turns out that there is a tiny bit of hearing loss in that ear, most likely due to the hole and sounds not being able to bounce off the ear drum. But they said it was pretty insignificant and nothing to be too worried about. The ENT said there is a small chance the the hole will close on it's own and there isn't much to do except wait and see what happens. We also talked about getting his adenoids out to help all the drainage, but decided to just watch the ear for a while.
     At the follow up appointment in December, the hole had closed some, but not all the way. Dr. Meyer's said that because of the amount of time that had passed it's unlikely that the ear will continue to heal. On the bright side, ear infections have lessened and we haven't noticed any hearing problems. We decided to wait a little longer to see if there would be more change and since Brewer was doing well, we're waiting on the adenoids too. So fingers crossed that a miracle will happen and his eardrum will close on it's own. If not, then another surgery is in store to put a patch in place to repair the hole.