She PASSED!!!

This is something truly to celebrate!!!  Many of you have been following us on our journey through 2 ENT surgeries, countless medications and speech therapy.  Buuuuut, I am happy to finally say that Hadley PASSED her hearing test for the first time since she was 2 days old!  Now here's the back story...

Her second surgery was the beginning of February and went very well.  She had the normal side effects of runny nose and slight blood from her ears.  But everything went very well and she was back to herself quickly.  We followed the recommendations to do ear drops post-operatively for 3 days and then let everything heal naturally.  Well, things don't always go "text book" in this house.  We went for her post-op surgery visit the beginning of March and got some bad news.  She had A LOT of puss and blood both in front and behind the ear drum.  And she failed, and I mean failed, her hearing test.  Showing "severe hearing loss" bilaterally.  Of course my heart sank, thinking back "Did we do something wrong?"  "Did we make the right decision?"  "Is she going to need hearing aids?"  Our Audiologist and ENT doctors felt strongly that this significant hearing loss was related to medical/anatomical issues that could be managed with further antibiotics versus having to wear hearing aids.  So, off we went on more ear drops and antibiotics by mouth.  In the mean time, they sent a lab culture of her drainage for testing.  Sadly a week later we found out it came back positive for pseudomonas and MRSA.  Mason and I both know from working in a hospital that MRSA is very resistant to medications and is no bueno.  So we decided to tackle this head on with aggressive antibiotics for an extended period.  

Fast forward to last Friday.  We finished the medications and were in this waiting game to see the doctor.  Dr.  Chang came in and very quickly said "Everything is open, clean and I can see the tube and ear drum looks great!"  Then we followed up with a hearing test, which is quiet a challenge with a 2 year old.  Dr. Jackie Neutz, bless you!!!  She passed, she passed, she passed!  Not only that she was well above the normal hearing range!!!  This means no more medications, no more ear drops, no more monthly doctor appointment and no more hearing tests.  For now at least!  We will follow up again in June with another hearing test to make sure she stays "normal" and then not again for 6 months to see the surgeon again.  Also we are backing off some with speech therapy and will start going only twice a month!  Phew, what a relief it is!

We feel that the missing puzzle piece to this mess was that we have been miss treating these infections and the MRSA diagnosis was a blessing in disguise, which we were able to treat correctly.  I know this may not be exciting to some, but I just had to share.  Enjoy the photos from her Speech Therapy appointment and a little "pick me up" from her happiness that afternoon.