Tyler Update

Tyler went to the doctor yesterday for his 2nd hearing test to see if the shots were working. After giving him some false hope, it looks like he is still not hearing anything. The audiologist accidentally switched his ears when doing the test. She had the white noise going into his bad (right) ear and the words going into his left. He got all of them right. She then asked about the noise and he said he didn't hear any. According to him, she was as upset as he was that she had switched the ears without realizing it!

He did feel two sounds, but the audiologist said it was nothing to get excited about. They were the same two sounds he felt last time. Basically, it is at the same level/frequency/whatever you call it as a jet engine...

The bit of good news from the audiologist was that his left ear hears normal voice ranges just fine. (He is can't hear some of the high frequency sounds in that ear either.)

When Tyler saw Dr. R, he didn't give him much hope. He wants to keep giving the shots a shot... his words not ours. :) but does not expect to see improvement. The good news from the Dr. R was that the MRI came back fine (no tumor). Bad news, there isn't anything else they can do about hearing loss, or the constant, loud ringing in Tyler's right ear.

Today, Tyler went to do his 2 hour balance test. The conclusion... it's as bad as his hearing. You may as well cut his ear off because it's just there to hold his glasses... literally! Based on the series of balance tests they did today, they will customize a physical therapy plan for him and give him some exercises to do. They want him in physical therapy until they see improvement. Could be a week, couple of weeks, months, 5 years, 10 years, never... they really don't know.

They told him he would probably always have spells of uncontrollable dizziness and nausea and that Dr. R would keep him supplied with whatever medication he needed so he could keep it around him all the time.

Diagnosis: Still a viral infection of the inner ear. They say at that office, the probably see about 1,000 cases a year... however Tyler's is special. Typically it only affects hearing, or balance. Very rarely both. Also, I believe the extreme loss of either is quite rare. As a result, Tyler is now a part of two separate case studies. One for the hearing loss and subsequent steroid shots and one for his balance, or lack thereof!

One of the doctors he saw today seemed very concerned about the cluster headaches that he has also been diagnosed with. Both of these conditions (cluster headaches and viral inflammation of the inner ear) are very vague terms to describe something that is going on. (Warning: Here is my very unmedical explanation...) Kind of like the term "the common cold." Different people have different symptoms with colds and they come from various causes. However, doctors often diagnosis patients (and rightly so) with the common cold. It's the same with Tyler's two conditions. Unknown source, diagnosis based upon symptoms. The danger here is the source. We've taken all the precautions that we can at this point. (He's had 2 MRIs in 12 months. One in September and one recently.) But this particular doctor has seen a patient have clean MRI's until all of a sudden, a orange-sized tumor showed up. Very scary possibility but one they intend to monitor with MRI's every 6 months.

I think that is about all the information we received today. I did not go to the doctor and have only gotten to speak with Tyler briefly as he was on his way to watch Harry Potter with Lauren.... guess he's not feeling TOO bad after the test, now is he? :)