Butterfly Ear

Kirsten was born with microtia with right tympanic ring aplasia. Meaning her right ear looks like a butterfly. Our cute nephew Ben named it her butterfly ear shortly after she was born and the name just sort of stuck. All of our nieces of nephews have come to love Kirsten's butterfly ear, it is not uncommon for us to be asked why Kirsten was the lucky girl to get a butterfly ear or asking when they would be getting a butterfly ear like Kirsten. My niece Abby just asked her mom why her little newborn sister doesn't have a butterfly ear, disappointed that she has just regular ears. Kirsten recently realized the difference between her two ears, a huge grin on her face realizing she had something special. She certainly is special and we are so grateful to have her in our family, cute butterfly ear and all.
Because butterfly ears do not hear as well as regular boring ears we have spent the past couple months going to several doctors in order to see what needs to be done for Kirsten's right ear. To say Kirsten does not have good luck when it comes to the medical profession is a huge understatement. But we are finally finished and have good results. After meeting with the ENT Kirsten was sent in for a ct scan. The ct scan showed that she has a fully developed inner ear but no ear canal. Luckily technology is so advanced that she will be able to have an ear canal constructed and then an outer ear formed (whether by surgery or prosthetic we are still undecided). We were then sent to get her hearing tested to see how severe her hearing loss is in each ear. Luckily her left ear has virtually no hearing loss but is just not hearing at full capacity because of the handicap of the right ear. Her right ear has as much hearing as the left but is not able to process the sound because of the lack of the ear canal. Which is why she is able to respond as well as she does on the right side. So she will be having surgery in 3 to 5 years to correct the problem. We are really excited the results are so encouraging. In the mean time we have early intervention, sign language, and speech therapists coming 5 times a month to help us with her speech. We are so grateful for good insurance and the knowledge and help of the doctors and therapists. Do you agree that little girls with butterfly ears also have cute smiles?