Brooke's ENT follow up...

Today we went to Brooke's follow up with the Ear Nose and Throat Doctor, to look at the spot on her neck to determine if it is still consistent with a sinus tract or not. I was expecting to see Dr McMillian who we saw last time, but when the door opened it was definitely NOT her! lol But I was more than happy to see Dr Madden who is the head of the practice and would be doing any procedures that need to be done. He came in and before looking at her neck, went through his usual routine of checking the ears, then nose, and then throat, even though we weren't there for any of that! He then informed me that Brooke had a very bad ear infection in her left ear. This is not good news since she had a small infection in her right ear last week and had been on Amoxacillin (sp?) for 7 days already. So then he proceeded to pinch, poke and prod her spot on her neck which she just LOVED (not). And afterwords had this to say...

1. He does not believe that the spot is a sinus tract any longer. He is very confident that it is a bronchial cyst tract. [The difference is that a sinus tract would have been something that had never closed up in the womb, and could go all the way into her head, making the removal very dangerous, and while it is suggested, its not absolutely necessary to have it removed. A bronchial cyst tract is where a cyst developed at some point and instead of continuing to grow and stay inside her body, it grew a tract so that it could drain itself periodically, which is why her spot seems to be healing for weeks and then looks wet for a couple of days.]
2. This would have to come out because it is just a matter of time before it would get infected. While the surgery is quick and not very risky, the risk of the anesthesia is more than the risk of infection, so they would wait until she's at least a year old.
3. The fact that her ear infection spread and got worse after being on an antibiotic tells him that it is a permanent blockage instead of a temporary one. This would require them to put tubes in her ears to prevent hearing loss.
4. They will see her in a month (instead of 2 months) so that they can do a hearing test and check the fluid in her ears. If there is any fluid left in them, then he will put tubes in her ears. And since the risk of permanent hearing loss is greater than the risk of anesthesia, they would do the surgery as soon as they could get it on the schedule (when she's about 8-9 months).
5. Because of the ears, we have 2 different paths that may take place. When we go back June 1st, they'll do the hearing test and determine if we need to get tubes. If not then we'll resume our bimonthly check-ups so they can watch the tract and make sure it doesn't get infected and then schedule a surgery date after Brooke's first birthday (probably the beginning of next year). If they determine she does need the tubes, they will schedule it as soon as they could and do them both at the same time.

Sooo, we are in a wait and see situation. But I am very thankful that the Lord worked it out so that this ear issue arose when we were already scheduled to see the ENT! :) What a blessing, since getting into their office is a three to six week wait! He sure knows what He's doing! :)

I'll leave you with one of my new favorites of my sweet girl! Sitting on the rug waiting to get into the bathtub!