dd2 has just been referred to a specialist because she's deaf in one ear and doc can see "fluid"in her ear.Does anyone know what this might be?

[cutekids]

He looked in her ear and said that her ear had a tiny bit of wax in but he could see fluid behind it.
Thinks she may have to have an operation and/or a gromit(?)
Does anyone know what this could be and if it could be serious?
I'm scared.

Glue ear? I think it's quite common.

Deffo sounds like glue ear. No need to panic. No big deal at all - often they let them just grow out of it. DD did.

Glue ear info here.

a gromit is a very tiny tube which allows the fluid to be drained.

thanks everyone.i've been googling again and terrified myself as usual.

very common
dd1 has had grommets twice
no need to panic

i presume there is a general anaesthetic involved?

yes there is but only for a very short time
dd1 had a canula to administer the aneasthetic both times and was fine

a friend of hers had to inhale the gas to put her to sleep and that made her woozy and vomiting when she woke up

aneasthetist says its because the gas can get forced into the tummy

Just a thought...can she continue with her swimming if she's fitted with a grommet?

Another thing that dd told me the other day was that she could hear a high-pitched noise in her ear now and again...the impression she gave to me of what it sounds like was like when an old transistor-radio wasn't tuned in properly...if anyone can remember that far back lol!

the noise will probably be the pressure changing or the fluid moving

and she will be able to carry on swimming but she musn;t put her head more than a foot under the water as the difference in pressure can force water through the grommets which can lead to infection

My dd had her grommets put in a couple of weeks ago, her hearing was dreadful and we've already noticed an improvement. As far as the anaesthetic goes, she was gassed prior to intubation and spewed 11 times. It took 24 hours to stop. Absolutely no pain from the ears themselves. For swimming the conslultant recommended some plugs and a band to keep them in. They're wrapped up under the tree. [evil mum emoticon]