Ear tubes

Isaac has been our sick child so far. I have been grateful that all of his sicknesses have not been life threatening or lasted very long, but it has been hard to see him sick. His sickness has mainly consisted of ear infections, but there have been a few colds and stomach bugs thrown in there as well.

Because of all the ear infections we were sent to a ear, nose, and throat surgeon to talk about ear tubes. We discussed it and decided that ear tubes would help him. So we set a date and waited. During the 2 weeks he started getting sick again. While he was getting sick Olivia was getting sick too. She kept complaining about her cheek hurting, which I thought was weird but figured she had fallen on her face or something and it would go away (I know I am a horrible mother). She hadn't been sick all winter so I just expected it was her time. I schedueld an appointment for Isaac and was told he had yet another ear infection and bronchitis. BUMMER! While we were there I asked their doctor about Olivia. So he looked at her and she had, not one, but TWO ear infections! She has never had an ear infection before. They took her wieght and temperature so they could give her an antibiotic, and her temperature was 103.8! SERIOUSLY! I couldn't believe it. I was so close to tears. I felt awful! She was so sick and I didn't even believe her.
Anyway, 6 days later we walked into the surgical center with Isaac ready to get this whole ear infection mess over with. We sat in the waiting room for a while, where he flirted with a little girl his age. When we got called back he let the nurses look at him, take his temperature and blood pressure, and everything else they needed to do without any fight. His favorite part was getting a toy for it all. Here he is right before his surgery having the greatest time!

He was so sweet. everyone loved him. We waited for a while in a little pre-op area. The Doctor and anesthesiologist both came to talk to us and calmed my nerves a little bit more about everything that was about to happen. They were going to take him in (without us) then put a little mask on him. The gas, which supposedly smells like bubble gum, would make him quickly fall asleep.

When it was our turn we handed our sweet baby over to a nurse and watched him being carried away into the OR. We waited about 15 minutes, then the surgeon came to talk to us. Even though he was on antibiotics, Isaac had an ear infection. The surgeon cleaned out his ear only to find a nice big glob of nasty snot behind his ear drum. SICK! I don't even know how he could hear. The surgeon gave us antibiotic ear drops for his ear to make sure all that went away.

The nurse came to get us and bring us back to Isaac in recovery. As soon as we walked into the recovery area we could hear him crying. It was so sad to see him on the bed rolling around and crying because he was so disoriented. We had a bottle ready for him and soon got him drinking. He wouldn't open his eyes yet so I was still worried about him. He was sad and disoriented the whole time we were there. He didn't want me, (sad) he only wanted his daddy. We could tell he was slowly coming out of it. We were only in recovery for 40 minutes and as soon as we got him in the car he fell asleep.

He slept for the next 2 hours. When he woke up it was like nothing happend. He was as happy as could be. He slept 13 hours straight that night. IT WAS HEAVEN! He has also started talking. He says "Mommy," "Daddy," and "all done." He wasn't doing that before the tubes. He is walking much better and I can tell his balance isn't thrown off. The best part was that his appetite is back with a vengeance. He has never been a great eater, and I have always been worried about that. I now know that it was because of his ears. He eats EVERYTHING! He is constantly eating all the time. I can not believe how much these tubes have helped him.