This blog is to share our experience with Matthew's Microtia and Atresia. We would also be interested in finding out if there are any other kids anywhere close that he can be friends with. He has never seen another child with the same condition that he has.
We have recently started going to see Dr. Arturo Bonilla at the Microtia Congenital Ear Deformity Institute in San Antonio, Texas. He will perform Matthew's reconstruction surgery and also do the Baha procedure. He only does ears and I feel very confident in his and his staff's abilities.
Matthew is 6 yrs old now and he really just noticed that one of his ears was "small" about 1 year ago. He asked why it was that way and we just told him that people are made differently. Some people have dark hair, some have light. some people have blue eyes, some have brown. People are just different. He agreed but still wanted to see about getting it fixed. So, here we go!
We originally saw a plastic surgeon in Houston but have decided to go with Dr. Bonilla because he will use what he has and build from that. Also, I feel more comfortable with the fact that he only does ears.
We will hopefully start the procedures in January 2011. After much consideration, we have decided not to open the canal. We are going with the Baha hearing aid instead. Too many risks in opening it up for me. His inner ear is complete and the Baha will give him that little boost that he needs.
Someone asked me what advice I would give to a parent who's child has this issue. The one thing I know is that for the most part we ignore the fact that his ears are different. It does not play a part in any decisions we make. Matthew is a very confident and outgoing little boy. He makes wonderful grades in school and everyone loves him. If someone asks what is wrong with his ear he will tell them what it is called, explain that he can still hear and he will also tell them in detail how it is going to be fixed. He doesn't skip a beat and neither do we.
