Ear Tubes

Brogen got an ear infection right after he turned 1 years old and when we took him back in to the doctor to make sure it had cleared up he said there was still fluid in there we needed to watch. So we took him back to our pediatrician again and the fluid was still there and he couldn't get his ear drum to react to the test he did meaning he probably wasn't hearing much of anything, and what he did was muffled. Since this was right when kids usually start talking and Brogen wasn't really saying much we were both concerned so he sent us to the ear specialist. It had already been 4 months that he had this fluid on his ears and the specialist said lets give it another month before we jump right into tubes. I was not very happy about that but what do ya do? So a month later we took him back and same, the fluid was still there and his ear drum was not reacting to the test they did on him so finally we got the go ahead with the tubes. We got it scheduled right away and on August 18th he got his tubes. Tubes are just a simple procedure but it was crazy how different Brogen responded to everything. At 6 months when he had surgery on his hands he was totally unaware of what was going on and never even cried. That surgery was almost 5 hours long and when he came out of the anesthesia many hours later he was so happy. This time it was a 20 minute procedure and they also snipped the little piece of skin in his mouth that was attached down onto his gums. No big deal right? From the very beginning he didn't want any of the nurses touching him or taking his temperature and he wanted out of that room. He kept pointing out into the hallway so I would take him to the hallway and then he would point to the door. He would not get in the bed to be wheeled into surgery so the anesthesiologist had to carry him off and I got a little teared up thinking about when we did this the last time but reminded myself this was a piece of cake compared to that. He didn't cry when he took him so that made it a little easier. Well it seemed like as soon as we just got settled in the waiting room they called us back to get him. They gave us a heads up that he probably wouldn't be too happy waking up and that the gas makes them cranky and when I saw him it broke my heart. He was sobbing and I could tell he had been crying for awhile. It was so sad. His mouth bled a lot more than they thought it would and so they handed him to me and there was blood all over his gown and mouth and on a washcloth they were using to wipe it off, and I could smell it and it made me light headed but I knew I had to suck it up and try to comfort him. I could not console the poor child and I felt so helpless, he only stopped screaming long enough to take a drink and then he would start in again. He kept pointing to the door and squirming to get off my lap and thrashing around and he is so dang strong that I almost dropped him a couple of times. I just kept asking the nurse if we could leave, that he just wanted to leave and then maybe he would stop crying, but we had to stay there a certain amount of time. Ugh! Finally they let us leave and when we got home he only wanted me. My mom came down to see him and he wanted nothing to do with her and when she even looked his way he would cry. He just acted like he was in pain and not comfortable, he wanted on my lap then wanted down and back up again and finally after 2 hours of crying and sadness he got off my lap to go play and he threw up on the living room floor and pooped his pants at the same time. His throw up looked like mostly blood so we think he had swallowed so much blood that it made his little tummy sick and that was all he needed. Right after that he was jabbering and playing and back to his same old self. We were so happy to finally be done with that. We have seen a huge difference in him and within a few days he was saying all kinds of new things and was non stop talking. He seems so much happier now also. We just went in for the follow up appointment and the Dr. said everything looks great. However now he hates doctors and freaks out if anyone tries to touch him especially if they have some kind of instrument in their hands. We literally had to hold him down kicking and screaming for the doctor to look in his ears, when before the surgery he would sit right there still. He also had a hearing test today and he did well. So yah for ear tubes!