Thursday morning I took Bryson to the ear doctor. The doctor recommended that we have tubes installed in both of his ears. I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible, since I was sure another infection was just around the corner. He was able to do the surgery this morning.
So, we were at the hospital at 7:30. Bryson was is a good mood, which surprised me because he is usually cranky until he gets his morning bottle. Amber is smart and brought toys for him, plus they had a wire maze thing there that kept him occupied for a while. I think we spent about an hour in the pre-op room, where the doctors and nurses were getting things ready.
They came and took him away about 8:30 and we went downstairs to wait. It was about 20 to 30 minutes and they called us back up to see him. As we walked in we could hear him screaming. He was pretty out of it, pissed off, scared, and didn’t know what to do. He was very hard to get calmed down.
After another 20 to 30 minutes he was calmed down and took his bottle. He fell asleep on the ride home and slept until 1:30. He woke up in a good mood and was happy and seemed back to normal this afternoon!
Here he is playing in the dog’s water bowl on the deck.
We have to put some ear drops in his ears twice a day and hold his head in one position for at least 60 seconds… this was not a good experience either.
Any volunteers for drops duty? It was the most fun I have had in awhile.
Ahhh….drops after tubes. They are cold and burn. Rub the bottle in the palm of your hands for a few minutes. There is nothing you can do about the burn. It is burning where the doctor cut the hole in the eardrum. Plus, I imagine that it feels weird having liquid drip into your middle ear thru the tube.
Do the best you can. I didn’t fight either of our boys for drops past the 2nd day post-op. Scott got tubes b/c of hearing loss due to his bad allergies, so infection wasn’t really a concern. Zach on the other hand got them for chronic OM like Bryson. I still didn’t fight him for the drops though. Most everyone I know hasn’t fought their kids for the drops either.
You could put a little cotton ball in there after you put the drops in and just hold him to the side less than a minute. Won’t be as good as a full minute, but better than nothing if you are going to wage the battle twice a day for the whole week.
Good luck and you are not alone! N
Nancy, I didn’t realize both of your boys had tubes too!
I guess the outcome was good in the end. I hope it was worth it for us.
Oh yes. Zach got his at 18 months of age for chronic ear infections. Scott just got his on January 4th of this year at 4.5 years old. Scott has really bad environmental allergies(grass, trees, mold, dogs, cockroaches!) and fluid was collecting like mad in his ears….it was clear fluid, so not infection/pus. However, clear fluid sitting in your middle ear begins hardening and thickening up! He had moderate hearing loss and it was getting worse and worse, so now we have tubes and he can hear perfect now! :)