Tubes.

Starting in December 2010 when Cale was around 8 months old he started getting recurring ear infections. He was so miserable and would just scream and scream. We would get him on antibiotics and they would quickly disappear, only to return every 2-3 weeks after that. Finally after ear infection number 4 we decided that enough was enough and we asked our doctor for a referral to an Ear, Nose, & Throat specialist to discuss getting tubes in his ears. The specialist agreed that it was probably time to move forward and have the surgery.


I was a nervous wreck thinking about putting my 11 month old under general anesthesia. What mother wouldn't? I think I finally understand how my own mother felt when my sister and I had surgeries when we were young. (Kristina had one when she was 5, and I had one at age 7, one at age 8, and another at 17.) I was so glad my mom could calm my nerves.


March 9th was surgery day. I was worried that he would be miserable since he wasn't able to have any food or milk for around 8 hours prior to the surgery, but he wasn't too upset. (He did pull my shirt down and ask for milk while we were in the waiting room though. Poor kid.) The surgery was very quick. 10 minutes tops and the doctor was already telling us how well he did. He walked us back to the recovery room and I could hear Cale screaming before we even opened the door. He wasn't in pain, but he was very disoriented from the anesthesia. They had me hold him in a rocking chair and I nursed him. It was seriously the saddest thing ever. He would try to eat but would just scream uncontrollably. He finally stopped crying when the nurse brought him some chocolate pudding! :) We were able to take him home about an hour later.


It has been almost 3 weeks since his surgery and things are going great. He hasn't had any infections and I haven't noticed him tugging at his ears at all. We went for his follow up appointment yesterday where they tested his hearing. The doctor said he wasn't concerned, although the hearing test wasn't quite as good as it was before the surgery. The doctor said he is still within the normal range and we will follow up on it every 6 months until the tubes fall out sometime in the next 6-18 months. Here are some pictures of Cale in his hospital gown before surgery. He was such a champ.