lovinthev8

So, long story short.

2-3 weeks ago my girlfriend told me it sounded like she had water in her ears but couldn't get it out. As a result, she had muted hearing. Not thinking it was a big deal, she continued on going with her daily life and taking certain medications to help with the issue.

Nothing helped.

At the advice of her mom, she went to an ear specialist. Turns out she has 40% loss in 1 ear, and 60% in the other ear. In five days, she is scheduled to have ear tubes put in her ear.

Her doctor didn't seem too concerned. He put it like this... "Once you hit 60% hearing loss due to fluid in your ears, it's more likely that you will damage the nerve in your ear which is extremely sensitive and can effect your hearing permanently. The good news is that both of your nerves are in good shape, despite one ear being 60% loss. If you choose to wait to see if things get better, it's an option. But one I wouldn't bet on."

I guess I'm being a little worried, but it's just my nature as a human being. So I guess I have several questions here...

1 - Once these tubes are put in, how quickly will her hearing be restored? Is there any chance for permanent hearing loss in this situation, even considering she's at 60% loss in 1 ear and still has 5 days till the tubes get put in place?

2 - This happened very abruptly. She said she took a shower at a friend's house and noticed the different feeling in her ears, as if there was water. She did the usual head-bob sideways to knock the fluid out but she said it just didn't do the trick, and wasn't even sure if there really "was" water there. She said her ears have not gradually gotten worse. It was just like... BAM. 40/60 loss and it's just been stable for 2-3 weeks till now, when she went to the ear specialist. Question is, in the next 5 days till she gets the tubes put in, is it likely that the % loss can increase? I guess I'm just worried about that 60% marker she's at with the one ear...

Any information anybody can shed on this would be great. I'd just like to know the likelyhood of her future with hearing, in terms of permanent loss, treatment, etc. I've googled quite a bit but I still come up with these questions.