Surgery

Our Little Mister had surgery a couple weeks ago, and all things considered, it went really well!  Kai's cholesteotoma was much larger than the CT scan had shown, and had started to eat away at his bone.  His doctor said that the way it was progressing, it would have eventually eaten away at his brain!  So scary!

As it was, they were able to successfully remove the infection--or at least almost all of it.  There is the possibility that there is still some that is on his facial nerve, but the doctor didn't want to mess with it for two reasons.  First, the surgery was already in the four hour mark, and he didn't want to leave Kai open much longer due to infection risk.  Second, he didn't want to risk damaging the nerve and leave Kai's face paralyzed.  Again, scary! 

We have a follow-up CT scan in about six months to see how Kai is doing and to see if there is any residual cholesteotoma in his ear. 

In addition to removing the infection, they also reconstructed his ear canal and moved his eardrum.  They widened both ear canals and put tubes in his right ear.  

Since his surgery, Kai's mood has very markedly improved.  He is vocalizing more--doing a lot of the high and low pitches that we haven't heard in almost a year.  He even took his ballard and was running it alongside his bed wall (although it doesn't have the same stimulation as the crib bars).  Overall he has been much happier and content--definitely more like himself. 

I can't tell if his hearing has improved since the surgery, but he is more alert and seems more aware.  Whether that is due to better hearing or not being in constant pain (or both!) is hard to tell, but it is so good to have him happy again!