OK, so we had the follow-up ENT appointment. Some interesting stuff came out of it that I wanted to get down.
- Her ears are fine, no fluid. Some negative pressure in both ears (eardrums are a little concave, affects hearing slightly since they can't vibrate perfectly). That happens after fluid recedes and should correct itself soon.
- Eardrums are fine. I've been worried about scarring/ problems. The doctor said that naturally-occurring perforations tend to be very, very small, and they heal well. It's not something you want to have happen but it's not necessarily a big deal and her eardrums don't show any ill effects.
- I followed up on the persistent stuffiness thing. Especially, I realized that what we've been calling "seasonal" could be "pool season vs. non-pool season." He agreed that pools are helpful in cleaning things out and dealing with congestion. (Don't think too much about what that means re: pool
water -- shudder.) He said he really didn't think there was some underlying cause like enlarged adenoids, though. He said that basically she just has a very sensitive nose, and that happens. It's easily inflamed/ irritated -- he had a line about sacrificing itself to save her lungs. He said that there really isn't much to be done about it except for what we're already doing (saline, etc.) -- unless we want to do a surgery where the skin inside her nose is cauterized.
He said that in terms of, she's doing fine, dealing with the problem medically is more trouble than it's worth.
I asked if there was anything I could do to prevent irritants from getting at her nose -- better air filters, whatever. He said, well you could put her in a bubble. :-) Basically he's saying, that's life. There are a lot of pollutants out there. It's a low-level annoyance but it's not really that big of a deal, so there's nothing we should do about it now beyond what we're already doing.
One interesting tidbit! I mentioned in passing how the congestion was linked to ear infections, and the doc said yeah and mimed sniffing -- you know, like if you're stuffy and want to clear your nose (inwards). He said that doing that can help get fluid into the Eustachian tube.
Score one for mother's intuition -- I'm always telling her "better out than in" and telling her to blow her nose instead of sniffing. E.G. thinks I'm weird. The ENT doc said there are studies and everything. Yay! Something specific we can do, if minor.
- Her hearing is normal. About a 10 db loss (normal range is 0-20). That's with the slight negative pressure, so should get a little better yet once that resolves.
- We're supposed to go back in 6 months to see how her
nose is doing, and go back in a year to see how her
ears are doing. So we're separating out those two parts of ENT.
Overall looks good. The doc proclaimed the audiogram results an A+ when he informed sozlet of them, and overall he seems happy with how things are going.