The Dreaded Tympanotomy

Cara's first ear infection was diagnosed January 28, 2012. She was almost 5 months old. In the 10 months since, she has had 6 ear infections, including one this last weekend. It had become evident a few weeks ago when we met with the ENT that tubes would (hopefully) be a solution for us.

We realized that she was keeping fluid in her ears constantly, and it was just becoming reinfected each time she caught a cold or got germs. And side effects of ear infections are no fun--fussiness, pain, hearing loss, fever, not to mention the side effects that come with antibiotics (helloooo, diaper rash!). For her benefit and ours, we decided 4 weeks ago to schedule a tympanotomy, or ear tubes. Today was the day!

Cara wasn't scheduled for her procedure until 10:30 a.m., but she had to be NPO (no food/drink) after midnight! To hedge our bets, we kept her up late last night and fed her one extra meal at 8:30 before bed at 9. Our bet paid off, and she slept until we woke her up at 8:40.

I'd been a nervous wreck for the days leading up to today, worried about the icy weather that was predicted, worried about the moment of handing her off and knowing she would scream her head off--I was not in great shape this morning.

Right after we snapped these pics, we got bundled up to leave. I picked up Cara and noticed my hands were wet. Yep, GIANT blowout diaper--just as we were heading out the door. Great. First of many today, in fact. Of course.

One outfit change later (which was hard, because she had specific directions for what to wear--two-piece, short sleeve, no feeties), we were on our way. We waited about 30 minutes in the waiting room with paperwork, then we were called back to the pre-op waiting area in a curtained-off room. We brought lots of books and Cara's lovie and an empty cup for later that she found and started signing for milk....oops. She really just wanted to play games and watch stories on our phones. Whatever works!

All the staff was so nice to us! We had a waiting area/intake nurse, we met the anesthesiologist--the guy who literally holds your child's life in his hands--an OR nurse and a recovery nurse, and talked with Cara's ENT again. They were all so reassuring and made sure we didn't have any questions. It's so routine to them, but it's every parent's first time, so I felt like they understood our (my) nerves.

Cara had to have one more diaper change (ugh...) and then when I got back to the curtain room, it was time to go back. That worry I had about handing her off, watching her grasp and wail for me and be carried away down the hall screaming never happened. She clung to me for a second, went with the nurse Kim and that was it. Not even a peep. Made it so much easier on this mama's heart! We went to another waiting/conference room, and it was maybe 10 minutes until they came to get us. We texted our family and I read an article on facebook to keep my mind occupied. That was it!

We could hear her crying when we went back. The nurse was holding her, and her head was flopping around like a newborn. Her eyes were puffy and she was so disoriented. As soon as I picked her up, she laid against my chest and was still and calm. Everyone said that was unusual and that's what a mommy can do for you! She laid there for a couple of minutes, but then she came to a little more, and really started fussing. She was still disoriented and confused, but when she got to be more lucid, she was crying from being upset and scared and hurt. It was at least 20 minutes of screaming. She didn't want her cup or a snack, she couldn't get comfortable laying on either me or Chance, didn't want anything. We could tell she started to calm down a little but was still whimpering. Her ears were bleeding a little, so I was glad I wore an old shirt!

I shushed her like this and told her I was proud of her for being so brave. I told her I loved her over and over, and I reminded her that the last time she and I were in a recovery room together, it was right after she was born and I told her I loved her over and over again then too. :)

They let us go home fairly quickly, after lots of paperwork and instructions I didn't really remember. A Rx for ear drops that cost $150 (!!!!), but with an online coupon to make it a reasonable $35. Whew! Cara totally calmed down in the car and especially when we got home. I fed her some applesauce and pedialyte (she LOVED that stuff!!!) and put her down for a nap. She slept almost 2 hours (and I got a nap too!) and then woke up like nothing happened.

She ran around the house all afternoon, getting into everything, playing like normal--laying on the couch and finding the remote--and eating snacks. I had to change ONE MORE horrible diaper (seriously, I thought just newborns did stuff like this--mommy lesson learned), and we went for a drive to Sonic to rid ourselves of cabin fever. At her next snack time, she started showing off some language development by saying her new favorite word: "diaper"!

We played some more, read more books, and I put her down for one more nap around 5 p.m. Definitely later than usual, but I could tell she was tired, and when I laid her down, she didn't even budge once for the next hour. Poor thing. She continued to guzzle pedialyte all evening and play more once Chance got home. Double fisting milk cups! I got her a bigger size, but the spout is different, and she can't figure it out, which led to loud, frustrated tears. I guess I'll just keep offering it until she figures it out?

Overall, I'm so happy with the events of today. The staff at the clinic was so considerate and compassionate, it was over so quickly, and she bounced back like a champ. Love the resilience of kids. She's going to go to school tomorrow while I have a hair appointment and do some Christmas shopping and Thanksgiving baking, and I know she'll be fine. Hopefully that tummy bug passes on by for good. And I hope that this procedure means no more (or very few) ear infections in the future. I'm so proud of Cara for being brave, even though she didn't know what was about to happen. She handled everything wonderfully, all things considered. My heart felt so empty when she went away, but even more full when she was back and all better.

I had really dreaded this procedure, and prepared myself for the worst, and it ended up not nearly as bad as I'd thought. This was a good decision for her and for us, and I'm glad it's over with too!