We discovered that Dax has a severe hearing loss at his yearly checkup in September. So we made an appointment with our ENT for further hearing tests.Since then, it's been a whirlwind of appointments. Our last was to discuss the findings of a CT scan he had on October 16th.Dax has been diagnosed with a Congenital Cholesteatoma (http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/860080-overview), and is scheduled for his first surgery on October 30, 2015. His next surgery will be 6 months down the road.What we knowThe tumor- has taken all of the hearing bones Dax's middle ear. It hasn't destroyed his cochlea yet.- has also begun to move into the bone of his skull, at the bottom part of his ear canal.- appears to be at least touching and/or wrapped around both his facial nerve and left taste nerve.- is the only thing conducting ANY sound to Dax's cochlea at this time; removing it will render him deaf in that ear because of the destruction of the three tiny hearing bones.What the plan isThe first surgery- is an attempt to remove the entire cholesteatoma.- will give us a better picture of how penetrating this thing really is, and how much reconstruction will be needed later.- will last about 3-4 hours.The second surgery- will let us know if we got all of the cholesteatoma in the first surgery; if not, the surgeon will remove what he can of the rest, if not ALL of it.- should allow the surgeon to at least begin the reconstruction of Dax's teeny little hearing bones, using some material from Dax's ear, as well as prosthetic pieces.- if all is not well - we will begin discussing other ways to help Dax hear again.- BUT if all goes well - this should also be the LAST surgery!Please help us as we plan to restore Dax's hearing. Dax is an active 7-year old boy who enjoys soccer, loves to play Minecraft, wants to start his own YouTube channel, and loves hearing his 4-year old baby sister sing. <3
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