Tubes

Well it's about time I blogged about this. Back in June (a week before the big move) we went through with having tubes put in both of Eli's ears. Whenever I say that, people assume he's had a lot of ear infections, which actually is not the case. He'd had 2 in a year - very normal. The issue with his ears was the fact that he had chronic fluid behind his eardrums (which can go hand in hand with infections) which was affecting his hearing. He was testing at a mild to moderate loss, which is concerning at his age and stage of language development. We tried a lot of different approaches, including chiropractic, but with it being there for 8+ months we decided that tubes would be appropriate. What we held off on was getting his adenoids removed (x-ray shows they are enlarged, and they can contribute to fluid getting stuck in the ears) because it's a more invasive surgery and there was just no time for him to recover before us packing and moving.

One reason I held off so long on the tubes is that Eli was pretty much sick with something from October on through May - I was hoping that once he finally got "well" that his ears would drain. As a mom I was concerned about how often/long he was sick and kept looking for answers. At one point I wondered if he might have hidden food allergies (his dad had them) and our Dr. ordered a blood test - no allergies, but it was discovered that he's got some sort of immune deficiency! Apparently kids can just "inherit" this and they hopefully outgrow it. In the meantime, it means he's much more susceptible to infection (ie. a simple cold can become sinus infections or pneumonia more easily than other kids) so I'm just grateful he didn't wind up with something more serious last winter. AND it makes me more PARANOID about this upcoming winter! Maybe I should start nursing him again, lol =). In the meantime I'm trying to boost his immunity with fish oil and acidophilus supplements.

As for the actual procedure, Eli had to be at the hospital at 6am and wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything. Brad got up and took him so I could stay with Owen and head over later. Plus, only one parent could be with him while he went under and I was afraid it would be traumatizing for me to watch. Apparently he did really well - they let him play with the mask and he thought it was fun until they made him lay on the bed (I really don't know why they wouldn't just let Brad hold him as he fell asleep). The procedure was really quick, and Eli was already awake by the time I got to the hospital... and I could hear him WAILING from down the hall. Apparently when he first woke up he was all cuddly, then it was like he remembered being forced to lay down or something and he freaked out, got all upset and was screaming at nurses and Brad and wouldn't calm down. They were wheeling Brad in a chair while holding Eli to transport him to the children's floor when I caught up to them. Even seeing me didn't help calm him down. It was actually kind of heart wrenching for me to see him in his hospital PJ's, clutching his stuffed Orca Whale and sobbing. But good news - as soon as we went through the door to the children's floor, there was a giant fish tank! Eli stopped in mid-sob and said "OH, FISHIES!" So we sat there and watched the fish for like 20 minutes. We finally convinced him to come to the room with us where we got muffins and yogurt to eat. Eli wanted to play in the "kid cage" or the hospital crib. He thought it was fun to be locked in there - but I admit it gave me the creeps because I remember seeing pictures of my sister laying in one of those when she nearly died from meningitis as a baby.

After they were sure he was recovered from the anesthesia, we finally got to go home. He was cantankerous off and on the rest of the day, but found excitement in the fact that our driveway got put in that day so he could watch a digger, dump truck, and road roller from the front window all day long! By the next day you'd never know anything happened to him! We followed up with his ENT the next week, and they said the tubes looked great, and his hearing tested NORMAL. He was starting to be a great talker anyway, so I didn't notice too much change right away, other than the fact he FINALLY caught on to whispering when I'm trying to put Owen to sleep. I honestly think he just couldn't hear me before when I was trying to teach him. Most of the words that he was pronouncing strangely have started to clear up already, so that's a good thing.

All went well until we'd been here a week (so 3 weeks after surgery). It was July 5th and Eli woke up with a pretty good fever - he was an oven to the touch. He wouldn't even let Brad look in his ears, so we figured they were hurting. It STINKS to have a sick kid no matter what, but especially when you don't have a trusted doctor set up, AND you have doctor-phobia and don't like new ones. Blah. We had to go to urgent care, and sure enough the tube in one ear was infected. He'd had a cold so it was probably a complication from that, but we at least got some antibiotics. Later the Elder's Quorum President (who happens to be a resident in the same specialty as Brad and lives down the street) came to help give him a blessing. It was a rough couple of days for him, but he's doing fine now. We still have to set up a doctor though.

Here are some pics from the hospital ordeal.



Eli's nifty neoprene headband for keeping the splashes out of his ears in the tub. He's supposed to wear ear plugs as well if he's going to be submerged (which he doesn't like anyway).