We had an audiological test first (I think the audiologist's name was XXX). His hearing tested the same as it had recently - basically pretty serious conductive hearing loss with a well-functioning inner ear.
Dr. Goldstein met us and informed us about the various surgical possibilities - depending on what they see. Since Ben's Malleus and Incus are fused, he said (1) they might put a prosthesis between the Stapes and the Incus or (2) they might remove part of the Stapes and put a prothesis between the Stapes and connect it directly with the ear drum (and also remove the Malleus and Incus) or (3) they might XXX.
We asked why the consent form included cartilege removal and why skin grafting. He said that he didn't think either would be needed, but depending on what they find when they are in the OR. He said that the cartilege removal is used if option 2 were used so that the titanium prosthesis doesn't poke a hole in the ear drum. He said skin grafting happens if they need to repair the ear drum - which he said we were not doing. Also, he said that they always intend to go through the ear canal but if it turns out it can't be done easily, sometimes they make an incision behind the ear and lift up the entire ear flap.
Then he took a look at Ben's ear and was amazed at how much goop there was in there. He suctioned it out with the metal tube and just said that he's the sort of kid who's going to have to have his ears suctioned out a lot.
When we were asking some questions trying to understand the actual procedure, he told us that "noone" usually asks these questions...
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