Ear Tubes In … Adenoids Out
Well, it’s done. Alex now has ear tubes, and his adeniods are floating somewhere in a jar waiting to be disected for the betterment of medical science. Either that or they just got thrown away in one of those orange bio-hazard bags. Either way, they are no longer lodged, swollen and irritating, in the back of his throat. And his ears are now drained of, in the doctor’s own words, “a WHOLE LOT of fluid in each,” and are vented with tiny little tubes. Recovery went as expected, he woke up upset and uncomfortable, but once we got home he fell asleep again, and upon waking was back to his normal busy little self. He’s eaten well, and thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention for 24 hours straight. Today he’s essentially back to his normal self already, with the exception of a few raspy coughs here and there (they had to put a tube down his throat, so there’s probably some irritation), and a being a little more tired than normal, which is totally expected and understandable. If anything, I’m amazed at how quickly Alex has bounced back from all this. The procedure itself was fairly typical, but I’ll outline it for any of you considering having this done for you little ones.
6:50 am - arrived at the outpatient surgery center
7:00 am - filled out additional paperwork while Alex flirted with the other people waiting in the waiting room
7:45 am - taken back to the pre-op area - Alex switched his pajama top with a blue hospital gown, and got a ankle band with his info on it
7:50 am - We meet the nurse who will be with him throughout the surgery, his anesthesiologist (okay, I have NO IDEA if I spelled that right, but you get the point) who explained how things would work through the procedure, and his ear nose and throat doctor (who we obviously had already met) checked in as he is the one to actually do the surgery
8:00 am - by this time, Alex has figured out that something is going on, and he’s gotten very, very quiet. He sits quietly on my lap or hubby’s, and just watched the nurses run around doing things - flirting is still vital however, since whenever they get close enough he holds out his arms to them to be picked up (he got picked up and cuddled by three different nurses at last count, must be the big blue eyes)
8:10 am - Alex’s nurse takes him back to surgery, and hubby and I go out to the waiting room to nervously flip through random magazines that we won’t really be reading
8:45 am - still flipping and getting more antsy by the moment - I have interspersed pacing with magazine flipping - hubby just looks at me with a smirk (I can’t help it, he’s my BABY!!)
9:00 am - we are brought back and talk with Alex’s ENT doc, who explains that they did take the adeniods, and that there was quite a bit of fluid in both of Alex’s ears - he explains that Alex may have some blood tinged drainage from his ears for a few days, and that he needs drops three times a day for at least 7 days - we are also to keep water out of his ears completely until after his post op checkup at the end of the month
9:05 am - we are taken back to recovery to be right by Alex when he wakes up - he is sleeping, covered with a blanket the nurses warmed for him (guess it pays off to be flirtatious after all!) - he has an IV in his foot (for the deeper sedation needed to take out the adenoids), and a gizmo attached to his toe that reads his pulse and blood oxygen level
9:15 am - Alex starts waking up - he is understandably upset and confused, and sounds very, VERY raspy - Daddy holds him and once he is fully awake he is allowed to have apple juice
9: 30 am - the crying has subsided to mostly whimpering, and the pacifier definitely helps - we change Alex back into his pajama top, and head home - he falls asleep in the car almost immediately
And that’s pretty much it. Once we got home, we gave Alex Tylenol for discomfort and he laid right back down in his bed to sleep for almost three hours. When he woke, he was hungry, but otherwise smiling and happy like usual!
May 16th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Glad to hear he is doing well.
It is amazing how quickly kids can start to recover. Our son had a minor surgery where they put him completely to sleep when he was about 2 1/2. Like your son woke up groggy, raspy, and disoriented. By the time we got home he was riled up and playful. I wish I could recover so quickly from just accidentally hitting my thumb with a hammer.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:56 am
My baby brother had this done when he was around 3 years old. They do recover quick from it! Good to hear hes doing well! My brother had a few problems with the tubes and they think that maybe this surgery was the reason his voice changed so early in life but alas he is now 16 years old and happy and healthy!
Victoria
http://www.about-sandiegoca.com/
May 17th, 2007 at 9:33 am
I’m glad the surgery went well. We just had the tubes done and I remember that nervous flipping of the magazines. It is nice that they recover so quickly.
June 15th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Yea it is sad to see your little baby going to surgery, but on the bright side, they are much healthier afterwards and usually bounce back twice as strong and a little more older from having to deal with a bad, painful experience. Hope everything heals up ok. Get well soon little guy.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I definately know what you went through. My son got his first set of tubes at 8 months only to get 7 ear infections since and his tubes only drained 1 of those 7 times. He is getting his adenoids out and a second set of tubes on Feb. 1st I hope this helps my little man he has been suffering through ear infection after ear infection. I would be very interested to know how your son is doing since the surgery. My ENT said that the adenoids play a large role in the ear infections and he is positive that this will make the difference.
May 18th, 2008 at 8:59 am
I have a two year old who we were told he needed tubes in his ears. A couple of days before his surgery, I ran into my chiropractor of all people. As we talked, my son came up in the conversation. He asked me if I had ever had a splinter in my finger. Taken back I said what? Sure, why? He asked what happened. I said it came out on it’s own. He said that’s right. Any foreign object in the body will eventually be rejected and ejected. The same thing will happen and always happens with ear tubes. He said we had to make up our own minds on what to do. After that I decided to do some of my own homework. After lots of reading and talking with my wife, we decided to not do the ear surgery. I called that chiropractor back and he offered to look at our son. He gave him an adjustment and examined his ears. 1 1/2 weeks later, the ear infection is gone. It has been a wonderful learning experience. I now have decided to get all my kids checked by different chiropractor (since we moved) and I am happy to report that my two year old hasn’t had another ear infection since the last one, nearly 3 years ago!
March 15th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
I, as well, employ a pit-bull who stands out as the most sensitive animal I have ever owned. Quickly, a new dog breed will occur together for your media to blast, as they have accomplished rotties and dobies in previous many years. Unfortunate that media sensationalism breeds much inaccurate data.