Removal of the Plug (April 25) and 1st Cleaning (May 13, 2011)

April 25, 2011.  In April, at the recommendation of the Calfornia Ear Institute, we saw a local ENT, Dr. Lei Zhuang, at Cedar Sinai for removal of the plug.  Dr. Zhuang is a beautiful doctor with a no-nonsense approach that did not jibe with Ben.  (We decided that we need to seek out a more kid-friendly ENT in the long term.)

We continued to put drops into Ben's ear.  Still not exposure to water: sponge baths only.

May 13, 2011.  Then in May, we returned to the California Ear Institute to see Dr. Geoffrey Service an ENT fellow with Dr. Roberson (I don't think that Dr. Roberson is in the office on Fridays) for removal of the last piece of packing and little clear plastic disc (looks like a tiny contact lens) that keeps the ear drum in place and a cleaning of the canal.  Dr. Service had these super precise and long angled tweezers for getting in there.  I believe that this was also when the clear disk was removed from his ear canal.  Although Ben was very sensitive about anyone touching his ear, Dr. Service was very good about connecting with Ben (he has sons the same age) and telling Ben what to expect and showing Ben the stuff he was removing from his ear.

In addition, we had another audiological exam - and the results were much closer to what we were experiencing with Ben.  The results indicated that the surgery had helped close about half of the gap of hearing loss that he had.