Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Baby E Update on Tubes

Sometimes kids get sick. Sometimes when they are sick they are still very happy and have no fever, so you don't know they are sick until they have green goop coming out their nose and their eyes look all watery like this & they have not been crying. Poor little guy! Sometimes you go to the Dr and find their ears are full of puss and it is the 4th month in a row for an ear infection. And your heart breaks.


So your pediatrician suggests you see an ENT doc and then you find your sweet little munchkin in a hospital gown, waiting in a play area to have tubes put in his ears. They will tell you, "It's no big deal." "He will feel so much better the same day" "It will only take 10min and then you can be with your child" and all of these things will be true.
They will also tell you, "He will be crying when he is coming out of anesthesia." This will be a half truth.
What they SHOULD have said is, "He will be screaming mad & cry like you have NEVER seen him cry before. He will still be out of it but look awake. His eyes will be blood shot and it will simply melt your heart like nothing has before and you will cry with your baby while you try to choke out a familiar song you often sing to him so he can be comforted (only it won't work b/c your crying is either also stressing him out or simply he has no idea what's going on because of the sedation meds). " and then you will pass him off to daddy and take a picture and try to pull yourself together. Because really he's fine & the meds are just making him not himself. And then before long, you will see this face!
And you will forget a little bit how sad it was to listen to your child cry so hard and be so confused for just a short time. You will feel blessed beyond measure. He will hear better and he will interact more and he will learn the hand motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" in just a few minutes and your heart will swell.
And you will feel blessed beyond measure.
Love ya Buddy!








4 comments:

kim said...

melts my heart too! he's such a lil trooper!

kellie j. said...

Oh, poor little guy! I know so many kids that have had to have tubes--do they know what causes it? So glad they are already working for him though! Way to hang in there and even document it.

Christy said...

SO sorry you guys all had to go through such an ordeal, but so thankful that it worked!!! YAY for non-infected ears!!!

Heather said...

Kellie, I think there are different reasons kids need tubes. For Eli (and I think most kids) it really has to do with the anatomy of their ear canal. Because it is so small and at a certain angle once he got fluid on his ear it was never able to fully drain.
As he grows his ear canal will grow bigger and longer and it will be able to drain on it's own.
Some kids have twisted canals but as they grow longer they untwist.