Saturday, June 19, 2010

Emma's Ear Tubes

On Tuesday, June 15th Emma got her ear tubes put in. Poor thing has had ear trouble since she was six months old. She has been through ten ear infections and we finally got her an ENT appointment (took three months to get an appointment!) and they scheduled her the next week to get the tubes put in. I hated putting her through it because she is scared to death of doctors. She has had to go so many times that she associates them with her ears hurting.

We woke up at 5:00 AM and left the house by 5:50. The hospital is not too far away. Hannah stayed the night with my mom and my cousin was going to watch her later in the morning. We checked in and they took us back by 6:30. She opened up a present while waiting - a new Elmo. That made her feel a little bit better. Then, the triage nurse had to take her blood pressure, get her pulse, measure her, etc. that was probably the worse of it all. We had to wait until the doctor and anesthesiologist met with us again. After they explained everything again we had to change her into a little hospital gown and wait some more. My mom came by and waited with us.

Then, they came to get her. Talk about heart breaking - she screamed so hard that no sound was coming from her mouth. She grabbed onto Bo's suit jacket so tight that he had to turn around for her to let go of him. Everything happened so fast that I did not get to explain that "we will be back" or "mommy and daddy will see you in a minute." As I heard her crying down the hallway as they took her I started to cry. I knew it was a simple procedure that everything would be fine - but she did not understand and she was scared. I hated knowing that.

About twenty minutes later that doctor came out and said she was fine and in recovery. One ear had already started to look infected again. She explained to me how to care for her the next couple of days and signs to look for if something went wrong. I had to give her ear drops for a few days so they gave me those.

After recovery they brought her back to us. She was groggy and cried a lot. She had to drink some juice and make sure her pulse was okay. We were out of there by 8:45. Once I got her home she was fine. She picked out what shows she wanted to watch and played just like normal. Mom brought her Chick Fil A for lunch and some surprises. She also got some surprises from Nana and Dadoo, which they had mailed to her. We gave her plenty of extra attention.

She has adapted to her ear drops as well as her new ear plugs to use during bath and pool time. The tubes should last at least a year and cut down her ear infections majorly. We go back next Tuesday for her post op appointment. I hope that I see a big improvement in her little ears. Hopefully they will help cut down on her visits to the doctor and medications due to infections.

One down, one to go -Hannah goes for hers June 28th.

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