Lauren Update

Lauren had her follow-up appointment in Iowa City today. 

The best news is that her ear is healing up perfectly. The doctor said it actually looked better than he would have expected at this point after surgery. 

After meeting with the doctor she had a hearing test. Or several hearing tests I guess I should say. 

While there is a slight improvement, its not great. The doctor said that he still hopes to see more improvement as the ear drum continues to heal from the surgery and matures as Lauren grows. 

But he did also say that she will always have a pretty significant loss in that ear and then the other milder loss in the other ear. 

He said that at this time he does not recommend any other type of surgery. He hopes she improves in the left (bad) ear to get to the level of the right (good) ear. And that would be fantastic. The other surgery possibility is so invasive and detailed that he said he would likely only do it if she were having difficulty in school and that it was a last resort even after the possibility of a hearing aide of some type... which we are no where near the stage where she would need that. 

When he started talking about the risks and the nerves that are located in the area he'd be working on I pretty much decided right there that there are worse things in life than a hearing loss in one ear. 

Lauren told the doctor that she feels that she can hear MUCH better than before the surgery. She said she hears better this year in school than last year. She told him she always reminds her teacher that she needs to sit on the left side of the room so she can hear with her right ear the best, but that she doesn't think she really needs to do that anymore. He said that is great and that hopefully this surgery will really be all that she needs to be comfortable with her hearing. 

So over all good news but I was really hoping that her hearing in that left ear would be above the right ear level and it would be like a miracle...

But Lauren is fully happy with the results. And with her performance in school I feel confident that she is hearing quite well there. And probably what she isn't hearing at home...is mostly selective!