The Peipert Family: Tubes

We've had some minor health issues come up with Janie over the last few months. I'm looking at her health history report from our last doctor's visit and we have been to our pediatrician EVERY MONTH since she was born. And twice in her 14th month. Half of those visits have been well checks but she has been just as much for other things, bless her little heart!! Early on it was her head shape and then it was her allergy to dairy. But now, it's ear infections which I know are a super common issue with little babes.

When Janie was eight or nine months old, she got her first ear infection. It seems like every time since then that she has gotten a runny nose or congestion of any kind the pattern is the same: fever, visit the doctor, ear infection. Since then, we've had three more ear infections which has since resulted in a referral to the ENT (ear, nose, throat) doctor.

While visiting the ENT, Janie's ears got a much closer look. They found fluid behind her ear drums that probably has just been lingering there for some time. They tested her ear drums to see how much (or little) they moved and discovered that they did not move nearly as much as they should. That along with a simple hearing test determined that she has a mild hearing loss. This is pretty common in littles with recurring ear infections and is resolved by simply relieving the ear of the fluid and results in full function of the ear.

Obviously, Janie's hearing is not THAT terrible because she seems to be developing speech patterns and using words just fine, but at her age she will continue to pick up many new words so we felt it was very important to return her hearing to a normal level. Our ENT felt as if Janie was a good candidate to get ear tubes and we decided to go for it - as many other parents do! Obviously we want her to be well and to be able to hear correctly but we also don't want Janie to have to endure more and more rounds of antibiotics to keep infections at bay either.

About a week into our last round of amoxicillin, I noticed a few little red bumps on Janie at bath time. We had been playing outside and I thought that she had either gotten into some grass and reacted or had a few bug bites. We put her to bed trying to not be too concerned about it but when we got her up the next morning... YIKES. She was COVERED in hives from head to her toe. (She literally had them on her eyes and on her toes...) Luckily, she didn't seem to be too bothered by them. Dr. B. was surprised that she slept through the night! At the time, I still didn't really know what the culprit was but our pediatrician said it was the medicine. I dosed her with Benedryl, which brought the swelling down, but the rash still looked so crazy! It looked more like what I remember MY reaction to antibiotics being when I was pregnant with Janie... Hmm... Some oral steroids and mommy snuggles and we were back to business as usual the next day.

AFTER Benedryl

We really didn't want to mess with any more infections & antibiotics. The doctor was able to get her into surgery the following week. Of course I was more concerned than I needed to be. It just seems like such a big deal when your baby is going under anesthesia (!!!!!!) for a procedure. After talking to some people about what to expect {a BIG thank you to those I reached out to about this!} I was feeling alright about it and was prepared to endure the worst of it, enjoy snuggles, and have Janie back to normal by afternoon.

On the day of surgery, you cannot eat 8 hours before, meaning no food for a toddler that has no idea why... Our time was 7:30. I didn't get Janie up until the last possible second, we hopped in the car, and left. I made sure to have a blanket, a lovee, a sippy cup, & some crackers for after surgery. All was great! We walked into the COMPLETELY FULL waiting room right on time. Bad sign. We sat there for an HOUR waiting for them to call us back. Luckily, Janie was pretty well mannered. Not sure if it was the fact that she was still waking up, that we were in a new place, or that there was some strange cartoon show on the TV - but it worked.

Yay! We're headed back to get this ball rolling... or so I thought. We waited another HALF HOUR before the anesthesiologist walked over to tell us that it would be another HALF HOUR before our surgery! I mean, I know it's out of their control and they did all that they could but this could have been really ugly. I mean - really ugly. We all got lucky and if you have met Janie, you know that child has some voice projection. Also, I'm pretty sure my ENT thinks I'm a bit of a mess - the first time I met him, Janie plucked my bracelet spilling tiny little beads all over the floor of his patient room. This time we talked to him before surgery and all the gift cards from my wallet were sprawled across the floor due to Janie's unpacking of every crevice of my purse while we waited.

Before surgery

I kept waiting for them to bring a stretcher of sorts to get her situated on. But... they didn't. They simply came & got her & carried her back into the "surgery area." I walked out to the waiting room & text everyone that I knew was waiting on an update (after all, it had been two hours since we were scheduled...) and then I was called back in! This time was just to meet with the doctor. I made sure that I was extra put together & took thorough notes to make up for my messy-mommy status. HAHA! I waited some more and text another round of updates and mentally prepared myself to comfort my terrified & confused daughter as she came out of anesthesia and when I was called back to see her, there she sat - happy as a clam being rocked in a chair by the nurse and drinking some juice... I was super thankful that I didn't have to witness that, if it happened. I knew she was feeling herself again when she screamed at me about the little oxygen level tester that was taped to her foot and dropped her cup on the floor multiple times.

Although we had to wait a long time to get into surgery, I will say that I thought the staff really handled the procedural part of everything well. It was nice to not have to see Janie upset at all or out of sorts. When we left the surgery center, they let her pick out a stuffed puppy. She got the biggest smile on her face when they gave it to her and would not let it go for the longest time.

Riding home with that puppy...

We spent the rest of the morning eating crackers, watching American Idol, and snuggling on the couch until she went down for her nap. After waking up, she has not skipped a beat. We just finished giving her the post-op ear drops and you would have no idea that she had anything done! We will go back in a few weeks to check with the ENT and make sure her hearing and ear drum tests are improved and then that will be that.