My son was the ultimate trooper.
He spent more than 3 hours in surgery because the Eye-Nose-Throat surgeon had to repair the more extensive than expected damage that the thing growing in his inner ear had done.
The Good news, the growth is gone.
The Bad News, the whole middle ear has been mostly destroyed. While his eardrum was reconstructed and so as his auditive canal, the little bones responsible to conduct sounds (called osselet in French) were lost. The surgeon is confident that when he’ll re-operate in 8 months to check for re-growth, he’ll be able to successfully install a prosthesis to restore hearing.
Here’s to hoping.
That being said, he hears really well from the other ear. He also was able to stand 3 hours after the surgery and was complaining of hunger all the time. He ate 3 soups and crackers at 6h00 PM and he was released to go home at 6h30.
We’ve spent the whole evening playing Boom Blox on the Wii and this is quite possibly the best boy game ever where you get to break stuff by throwing baseballs, rubber or bowling balls at stuff!
So Cool.
I still will focus mostly on my son for the next 3 days or so, but if I have the energy while he sleeps, I’ll start posting again.
Thanks for everyone’s positive thoughts, prayers and wishes of good luck. Nico made his Fort Save and in 8 months, the surgeon gets to cast Cure Partial Deafness.
Glad he’s OK. I don’t know if it’s of any comfort, but remember that there’s never been a better time in history to have partial deafness – the technology for hearing aids is excellent and only going to get better (an ex-girlfriend of mine is partially deaf in both ears, but with her hearing aid – that you wouldn’t even know she had, to look at – corrects a heck of a lot of that).
So best wishes.
Thanks Gazza!
I agree that now is the best time. We’re actually quite sure that my wife’s mother’s deafness was caused by the same, never treated, aliment.
What we’re banking on is to have the surgeon install an artificial set of little bones (god I need to learn the English words for that) in there when he re-opens.
But yeah, now is a good time to be alive.
Glad to hear it went well. As someone who has a history of ear problems (2 mastoidectomy operations on my left ear) I can empathise with your situation. I currently have about 40% hearing in my left ear and 80% in my right. I’ve been using a hearing aid for the past year and find it excellent at improving my hearing to almost normal levels.
Dave Wrights last blog post..Statistics (Slight digression).
Mastoidectomy, that’s what my son had… Except it wasn’t to treat an infection but to get to a growing ball of cholesterol. The eardrum was saved, but the staples (there’s the word!) were removed.
Thanks for the link Dave and thanks for sharing your empathy! It’s greatly appreciated.
So you can breath easy again. That’s good 🙂
It’s good to know everything went well, thanks for keeping us updated. Send mini-Chatty our love.
One suggestion – do as much as possible to help practise his sense of balance, whether that’s using the Wii, riding a bike or whatever.
Enjoy the time together, and we’ll be around when you’re back in full-on Chatty mode again 🙂
Aww. Well that kind of sucks. At least it is happening now, at the dawn of the faster, better, stronger era of human repair technologies.
(And if he is sufficiently geeky, your son will be able to tell his peers that he is a cyborg! So silver lining there.)
Michael Phillipss last blog post..quick and dirty game design
Hey Michael, you just warmed my Evil Overlord heart immensely… I have a Cyborg Clone offspring!
How cool is that?
Nico made his Fort Save and in 8 months, the surgeon gets to cast Cure Partial Deafness.
That is probably the funniest thing I’ve read all day. (Then again, it’s only noon.)
*hugz for Nico!*
Geek’s Dream Girls last blog post..Secret Agent Man: How to Survive Online Dating without a Profile Picture
In English
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossicles
There we go.
Edit: Stupid Akismet. I’m a freaking admin! It should let me post!
I’m happy to read that your little guy is doing well and I’ll continue to send my thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
Scot Newburys last blog post..Gnome Stew Served Up
_really_ glad to hear that everything went so smoothly and hope he just keeps gliding along 😀
Awesome that the mini-Chatty one is recovering, and gets to spend that time playing the Wii. Send him our best!
Dave T. Games last blog post..Inq of the Week: Wii Wheel Rock You?
Yay for a safe recovery, boo for having to go back for more at the end of the year. The follow-up procedure sounds promising, though — I’m sure he’ll pull through that one fine as well.
Thank you so much everyone!
I’d say he’s more of a Spawn of Chatty. It still amazes me to see the advances in modern medicine
Catching up after being away and saw this, I’m glad to hear everything went well. Stay positive and good luck with the rest of it.