Saturday, May 18, 2013

Daryl and His Ear

Friday morning we went to Gainesville to check in with Dr. O'Malley, 
the ear surgeon who looked at Daryl's ear a few months back. 

The perforation in his eardrum has completely healed up, the scab is gone and there is no infection! 
That was very good news. 

We talked through the options of Daryl getting a hearing aid vs. having surgery. Since the hearing tests show that Daryl's hearing nerves are intact, Dr. O'Malley feels confident that surgery is the best option. He wants to recontour the eardrum and replace the very damaged middle bone in Daryl's ear with a metal piece and this should significantly improve Daryl's hearing in his left ear. There is a small risk of making Daryl's hearing worse; but Dr. O'Malley says that Daryl's hearing is so poor in that ear anyway, he probably wouldn't notice it if things got worse. Bascially Dr. O'Malley said that Daryl could put a earplug in his right ear and still hear better out of that than the sound he gets from his left ear. 

We are looking at scheduling the surgery over the summer after we return from China. While Daryl will have to be completely under for the surgery, it is outpatient and should only require a few days recovery. Thank you for your continued prayers for Daryl and his hearing. 


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