Gretta's trip to the ENT

I took Gretta to the ENT today. Gretta really is a good sport about going to the doctor. I counted up that she has had over 18 doctors visit this year already. At least 8 of them have been because of her ears. Even with tubes she has had almost an ear infection ever month. It seems every time she gets a cold she gets and ear infection too. Poor girl!

She is so good at letting people look in her ears. She never throws a fit, or puts up a fight which also makes it much easier. Gretta also really likes the ear doctor, Dr. Shih. Plus I like that that the ear doctor's office is close, easy to get into, and has free parking, which in LA is a rarity.

In the waiting room the office has a nice picture of what the inside of your ear normally looks like, what it looks like infected, etc. Gretta always wants me to read her the chart. I think she might be an ENT in the making. She also likes to read the book they have in the waiting room, "Chris gets ear tubes".

Here is Gretta with the chart.

Gretta had her first set of ear tubes placed when they did her cleft palate repair Dec of 2006. That set of tubes lasted 6 months. Then she got the second set placed in Dec of 2007. That set lasted 10 months. She will be getting her third tube placed on the left side in Dec 2008. It seems that December is the month for ear tubes in our house. The right ear drum has a hole in it, so it acts like a tube for right now. She might need another tube in her right ear at some point this next year.

She also had a hearing test today which showed some mild hearing loss. I was in the booth with her and now know why she always seems to want the music and the TV turned up louder. Hopefully the tubes will help us preserve what hearing she does have.

The good news is that her speech hasn't seemed to be affected to much by this hearing loss.
Wish us luck on December 8th.