Ear Update

Emily's been on the latest course of antibiotics for 8 days and she seems to be doing better. She saw an audiologist on Monday and she can hear well, although she does have some loss of hearing which is due to "stuffy ears" (fluid in her ears). He said her ears weren't infected, which was a huge relief. She has enough hearing loss (I think it's in the 25-35 decibal range) to prevent her from speaking, which is kind of ideal because we don't really want to encourage her speech until after palate surgery. She vocalizes very well which is an indication that she can hear. He felt that once her tubes were in the issues with hearing will go away altogether. Good news!

We are taking Emily to NYU next week for her pre-admissions testing. We'll also meet with the nurse practioner on the team to get information about the surgery and arm restraints (ug). Still, I'm looking forward to seeing the team again.

And speaking of hanging out with the team, I will be attending the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA) 2005 Annual Meeting in Myrtle Beach, NC with the NYU team the first week of April. I was asked by the team to attend with them to speak about the NAM from a parent's perspective. The entire team will be presenting and I'll only have a few minutes to talk, but it is a huge honor. They will show this blog at the seminar!! I'm so excited.