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Thursday, September 26, 2013

What They Didn't Tell Me About Ear Tube Surgery on Toddlers

Surgery, its a scary word , especially for a parent of a toddler.  Lets take this back.  My son who is now 22 mo old, has had one hell of a history with double ear infections.  About once a month almost since he was about 4-6 mo old.  So as the phrase goes "mothers intuition" I had that motherly feeling that eventually he might need ear tubes, I knew barley nothing about them except kids who get lots of ear infections eventually get ear tubes.  My husband would get mad at me and tell me to stop that I was going to "Jinx" him.   I couldn't help but think that was where the road was heading.
Well sure enough a year later and he is still getting them so his Pedi referred us to a specialist.  Now thats when i told myself, ok this is no longer a thought any more, its happening and my research began. I started calling all my friends that i knew had children with ear tubes.  I wrote it on TTML page and got some feed back.  They all said the same thing, "don't worry", "its quick and easy", " they will be them selves the same day", and the main one, "they wake up fine, or a little fussy, but thats it and its worth it".  Well when you get that feed back you seem to worry less and know, ok this is going to be cake.
Then came...SURGERY DAY!
We get their and I am a ball of nerves, they had us their up and early at 7 am. That way not being able to eat wouldn't effect them as much.  We get checked in and get called to the back to his "room" and talk with the Dr. and Anesthesiologist (that was the scariest part for me, putting him to sleep!).  These where there exact words, "This will be quick and easy, in and out in 15 mins, the only thing is that he will wake up "fussy", even. . . "angry"(in a whisper voice), my thoughts (why did he whisper angry?) but I didn't pay much mind to it just on "FUSSY", he then began to explain that they are not in any pain, the "fussiness" is just a side effect from the anesthesia.
So, here comes the nurse and she says, "Oooookay,  can I have Alexzio?", my first thoughts are, wait, what?  I don't get to go back with him.  Her words, "oh no mom, we got it from here"... my heart melted, but I guess I really should consider this a good thing.  He went with her calmly not crying,  didn't even look back, I guess now I know how the guy from "Life of Pi" felt when Richard Parker never looked back!
So they walk my husband and I to the recovery room.  The lights where dimmed and it was completely empty except for the few nurses walking around.  The Dr. talked to us again right before he went into the O.R and said "don't worry he will be fine", I guess he could see the nervousness in my face, probably written across my forehead.  He goes in and my husband sits down and tells me to sit, oooh no i told him, i'm just fine swaying back and forth.  Literally 10 mins latter the Dr. comes out and says, "Everything went great, they are just cleaning him up and he will be right out, just remember he might be a little fussy".  We said our thank you's and waited for my little man to come out.
From behind the double doors I heard a little squeak, I jumped and told my husband "thats him, thats him" and my husband said "I don't know, just relax" , oh I know my sons squeak and sure enough the double doors open and he is in what looks like a old fashion babies crib with wheels and about 5 nurses around him.  Then as they are rolling him down to his spot, the SCREAMS broke my heart, I began to cry because I have NEVER heard my child scream and cry that way.  He was in no way "fussy" he was plain old "PISSED"!  The way the DR said "angry" does not cover it.  My son was throwing himself back I couldn't even hold him, my husband had to.  You could hear his screams down the hall.  I kept asking the nurses, "are you sure he isn't in any pain", and they said "No, its just from the anesthesia".   Alexzio couldn't even catch his breath.  He was hyperventilating so badly, and his voice was cracking from how hard he was screaming.  Holy cow I had no idea it would have been like that. And then to top it off, about 10 mins later he is still screaming and they said "Ok, he is ready to go home" and I'm sitting there looking at Alex holding Alexzio while he is still screaming bloody murder and they want to send us home?  What?  How does that make sense??!!
Well we went and got into the car, all while he is still screaming.  About 10 min into the drive home he finally calmed down a little enough to sleep.  Then we got home, he woke up still cranky, had a snack and then fell back asleep.  When he woke up, he was his old self, like magic!  Like nothing ever happened, and I'm happy to say that since then he has NOT had any more ear infections.

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