Sweet Nothings

Well if you thought you were going to whisper sweet nothings in my ear for Valentines Day, you have another thing coming! I visited Dr. Ortiz, the pediatric audiologist today for a hearing test, as well as Dr. Engle, to determine when the tubes would be inserted. I guess I can't hear because I have moderate hearing loss due to the rupture in my right ear.

My first stop was Dr. Ortiz. Her office is full of sunshine and lots of toys. But this is a place that you are not allowed to touch the toys, they are just there to tease you; isn't that weird? She also has lots of equipment that I'm not allowed to touch, as well as a big booth with funny boxes on the wall. The first thing she had me do was be pinned down by my mom and insert these things in my ear. I was okay until she turned the pressure machine on which caused much discomfort. Of course I screamed bloody murder. If you have never had a pressure test done, it is a test done to determine if there is fluid behind the ear drum in the middle ear. If there is fluid, it hurts and it hurts a lot! Needless to say, the test was inconclusive as I was screaming the entire time. Dr. Ortiz completely lost her patience with me within three minutes. She then shoved me into the hearing booth. I was not happy and did not want to be there. She kept showing me toys, including Elmo, but wouldn't let me touch them. She said it would prove to be a distraction. Want to know what is a distraction, when I want a toy and I can't have it! Overall, Dr. Ortiz said the tests revealed that I had moderate hearing loss but felt they were inconclusive because I cried the entire time. So who knows if I'm really deaf?

I then saw Dr. Engle, the man that loves the otoscope. He wasted no time sticking that thing in my ear. The good news is that my eardrum is healed, the better news is that I will have tubes inserted in my ear on February 11th at 7 am. The bad news is that I can't eat or drink anything before my surgery. Do these people realize that I have milk served to me promptly at 6:30 am with a side of cheerios?

Our final stop was the insurance specialist. Now I know a lot of people dislike my daddy's profession, but I have to tell you, this woman was the best stop by far. Not only did she leave me alone, but she has a basket in her office filled with toys. I promptly removed all the toys and made myself comfortable. She just laughed at me and told me how cute I was. I think she deserves to have "pediatric" in her title!

Although the appointment started off on the wrong foot, I left that building on the right one!