Fixing Little Ears (Part 1)

Our little orchid has been having problems with her hearing for a long time but it was a little over a year ago that we took her to an ENT in China and had her hearing checked.  That was when we knew for sure that there was a definite problem and not just a little girl who was choosing not to listen and obey her mom & dad.  Being in China though we weren't sure what we should do and how to go about it. 
Well, let me skip forward 9 months,  we are in America and LanLan is preparing to go to Kindergarten.  She had to get a physical for school, it was during the hearing test that the nurse looked at me and said that she didn't pass.  I was not surprised but ready to do something about it.  The pediatrician gave us a referral to an ENT, I called and made the first available appointment . . . middle of December.
Skipping ahead again, it's Thanksgiving weekend and we are heading to my brother's, an ENT.  My brother had helped us interpret the test results of our first ENT trip back in China.  Now he was offering to take a look at her ears and give us his opinion.  He confirmed, again, that she was suffering from significant hearing loss due to very think fluid in her ears.  Her nerves were fine so once the fluid is removed she should be hearing normally.  He recommended having tubes put in and her adenoids removed.
Skipping ahead now to a week before the ENT appointment in December, I'm calling to get the address of the place.  That is when I realize this place is in the city!  My husband says . . . there is no way were are traveling to the city just to get tubes in her ears.  So I cancel and have to search for a new, good ENT in the area.  We find one, call and make the first available appointment . . . . January!
The appointment finally arrives and we go.  We meet the doctor and I like him right away.  I tell him LanLan's battle of ear infections, antibiotic usage, hearing test etc. He conducted yet another hearing test to confirm, again, that she still was not hearing.  We talked about my visit with my brother and what he said and the Doctor agreed and said we should book the surgery.  He suggested that we wait on the adenoids since it's a bit more involved surgery but if we really insisted he would removed them.  He hoped that this being LanLan's first time to get ear tubes put in that this might permanently fix the problem.  Then if it doesn't we could also take the adenoids out the next time if need be. 
So, we booked the first available surgery date . . . February 10, another months wait!