ear update

Here is the official "ear" update. Sorry it's taken me a few days to get it out. With Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating it's been a little busy in the Cole household.

We met with two ear surgeon's in Nashville, one on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday. Both confirmed the diagnosis of Otosclerosis.

The one doctor on Tuesday offered some more information that we had not known. A little side note on him, when he was doing his residency at John Hopkins in the 70's, he was Werner von Braun's (the former German scientist during WWII who came to the US and helped us get into space) attending physician when von Braun died. We learned from him that what we thought was the cause of my hearing condition (caused by pregnancy hormones) is just a theory. The other possible theory is a possible link to measles. Since I've never had measles and I have been pregnant, the pregnancy theory fits for us, but as I stated, that is still just a theory. A family history is considered a link, but since no one in my family has been diagnosed with Otosclerosis or wears hearing aides (except due to old age) it's still a mystery as to why I have Otosclerosis. Another strange thing about my case is that this usually developed in women in their mid-twenties. I just turned 30 this year so that is a mystery as well. We also learned from him that there is a drug I can take that would kill the active part of Otosclerosis. It would not improve my hearing, but it would keep it from getting worse. The one thing that is imperative about this drug is before I could take it is I would need to be done having children. Something about the drug stays in your body and can cause birth defects. So this drug is not really an option for us since we'ver not really discussed any future children. I had also thought that if I did get pregnant again, my hearing would continue to deteriorate as it did when I was pregnant with Ethan. This doctor said that the bones in my right ear (the worst of the two) are about as hard as they can get, so I would not have any additional hearing loss. My left ear still could see some hearing loss as it is not as bad as my right ear, but it's not far behind my right ear. I guess it's good news that my hearing won't get substantially worse, but it's bad enough right now that I can't make out (clearly) people speaking if they do not speak up or are more than 5 feet away. Which then leaves us two options, as before, hearing aides or surgery. Both doctors have a success rate of 94% which is higher than the national average of 90% and the success rate of the doctor in Huntsville.

Our appointment on Wednesday was a major frustration. We were told to arrive early because I would having another hearing test. After the long wait and the hearing test, it was over 2 hours before I saw the ear surgeon. Ethan was trooper during Tuesday's appointment and most the Wednesday's appointment, but after being awake 1.5 hours after his usual morning nap, he was getting testy. This surgeon did not provide us with any additional information as did the doctor on Tuesday. He did have a few tips of his fingers missing which made us wonder HOW he does he make precise cuts in a surgery.

We are now in the pricing stage. Hopefully, by today or tomorrow, I will have the prices for the one doctor we met with on Tuesday in Nashville and the one here in Huntsville and also all facility costs of both places. After that, we'll schedule. Both the Nasvhille doctor and the Hunstville doctor said it would be about 3-4 weeks before a surgery. That's good to know that I won't have to wait too long. We had wanted to get one done before Ethan was mobile. While he's not crawling yet, he will be soon. For the first few days and in the following weeks of the surgery, I will really need to avoid and limit any lifting. We're leaning towards Ethan & I staying with Eric's parents so I can have someone "lift" Ethan for me. He's getting to be a heavy little boy!!

Needless to say, I'm ready to hear again!!!

Thanks to every one for praying!