Tubes

On Wednesday of this week, Graham had surgery at a local hospital to put tubes in his ears.  I was definitely a little nervous about the anesthesia involved but we felt like this was the best hope for him to stop getting ear infections. 

Reading a book before surgery.

Tiny little hospital bracelet on his foot.

They took him back at about 7:35am to get him started on the anesthesia and of course he screamed as they took him away.  I was prepared to wait with episodes of Downton Abbey on my iPad.  However, just 15 minutes later, the doctor was back to tell me that it was already over and I would get to see him soon!  It was a huge relief that all went well.  The ENT said his ears were still quite infected (after 10 days on the latest round of antibiotics; 7 different antibiotics in total) and that the fluid wasn't going anywhere.  They suctioned all of the infection out, put the tubes in, and finished up. 

About 5 minutes later, they brought him in to me.  He was thrashing and sort of freaking out, but once I started feeding him he did well.  We stayed for 45 minutes to make sure he recovered ok and then headed home.  He was definitely a little loopy during the afternoon but seemed to actually feel much better as the day wore on. 

We can already tell that his ears and head don't hurt like they did before the surgery!  He still has drainage coming out but hopefully that will be over in the next day or so.  He is also more sensitive to noise now.  He failed his hearing test before the surgery so we knew he wasn't hearing well.  Now I can tell that he can hear better-- especially because he wakes up at the slightest noise whereas he used to sleep through almost anything.

I'm really glad we decided to do the surgery.  I almost tried to back out the night before, but it sounds like he never would have gotten better on his own.  I am so thankful!