We decided, and everyone who mattered agreed (ENT, Aus Hearing, Yeerongpilly), that we just had to beat these infections. At the last visit to Australian Hearing the right grommet was not clearly visible, so it was suspected that it may have come out. Each time we go to Aus Hearing to do a VROA, they also measure the volume of the ear, and also something called "tympanometry" - in other words, the amount of movement of the ear drum. The volume tells them if there might be something blocking the ear passage, and also indicates whether or not a grommet that's meant to be there is open or blocked. A larger volume indicates an open grommet, since not only is the outer ear measured but the middle ear too through the grommet; conversely, a smaller volume indicates either the lack of a grommet altogether or a blocked grommet, since only the outer ear volume is measured. The tympanometry indicates whether or not there may be fluid built up behind the ear drum in the case of a missing or blocked grommet. Jarrah's right ear certainly measured small in volume, indicative that the grommet was either missing or blocked, but the Aus Hearing people are audiologists, not ENT specialists, so they couldn't say which.
We returned to our ENT in early May 2008, who on that day saw the right grommet but found it quite blocked. We were given yet another set of Ciproxin drops, and also some super-string antibiotic was administered into the ear at that appointment to try to kick-start the healing process. The Ciproxin drops expire after 14 days, so we had quite a short window within which to effect change. The drops had worked fine in the past, but i wondered if i had returned the hearing aid to the ear too soon...so this time we decided to use the full 14 days, no hearing aids, and perhaps none for sometime after the 14 days, until we were satisfied that the ears were clear. It was also decided that we would return to the ENT after the next Aus Hearing check-up to check on the grommets again; if either of them needed replacing at that point then we would also remove Jarrah's adenoids, simply to rule out another possible cause for the multiple infections.
During this time, since what i called Jarrah's "episode", he had ceased learning new words (or at least slowed considerably), and had stopped using some of the words and concepts that he had more recently learned. He seemed to have taken an enormous step backwards, almost like all the gains we had made through the year at Yeerongpilly had been lost. Things he had seemed to have mastered were now difficult and haphazard - maybe today, maybe not - and it really seemed like there wasn't much getting in...which i guess there wasn't, since he wasn't able to wear his hearing aids and some of the test results were indicating severe to profound losses at some frequencies. Such a discouraging time, i wondered again if he would ever speak normally, if he would ever cope at school, how long it would take until he caught up to his peers. Even his speech teacher at Yeerongpilly began to make vague cochlear implant noises, whereas previously she had said to me that he was nowhere near needing an implant. I also wondered how long it would take us to regain the ground we had seemed to have lost...
Finally, the ears were clear. By late May 2008, we were able to wear hearing aids again! In an effort to avoid further infections, i set up a structured routine for cleaning and wearing the aids: they would be worn in the mornings only, to give the ears plenty of open air time to dry out and stay dry; they would be washed every single night, and as they were put in each morning, both the ear-moulds and the ears would be wiped with a surgical alcohol wipe - anything to try to prevent the nasties getting in! Well, what do you know, something was working - before long we were at 2 weeks infection free...that's a record! Then it became 3 weeks, and then 4 - we dared to hope that we had finally beaten these infections. Still not an ideal situation, with hearing aids only being worn 4-6hrs per day, but better than none at all!!
At last - a victory! In what seemed to be constantly uphill battle, even a plateau like this was worth celebrating!!
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