Down to One

Here is an update on Wade's ear tubes. Ten days after surgery of getting the tubes in, Wade had a 15-month well-baby visit with his pediatrician. After looking in his ears, she confirms that his left ear tube is sitting at an angle and working it's way out. I was so shocked to know that this happened within 10 DAYS!!?! 

Adam and I didn't get too excited about it since he hadn't had any ear infections since getting them in. We had our post-op appointment today with the ENT doctor in St. Louis. They performed a hearing test and luckily he did a lot better than before tubes. They asked me if I had noticed anything with the tubes and I explained to them what my pediatrician said. The Audiologist looked in his ear and confirmed that the tube was out of the eardrum and now just hanging out in the canal.

So, when we actually saw the ENT doctor, she looked in his ear and obviously saw the same thing everyone else has been seeing. So, she asked for a nurse to come in and help hold Wade down so they could extract it. The doctor was able to retrieve it in less than a minute. Of course Wade cried because he was being held down, but I wonder if it actually hurt inside his ear?

Now, we have to watch out for any ear infections in his left ear for the next 6 months before we see the ENT doctor again. If he starts getting ear infections--it's surgery time again. :(

But, the only good thing if he does need another tube in his left ear is that we've already reached our insurance's maximum out-of-pocket for 2012!

Ear Tube Surgery

Today was the day that our little guy got tubes in his ears. With any kind of surgery, I was nervous and scared, but also hopeful for the results (no more ear infections and closing the gap with his speech/language delay). We stayed with some friends last night that live in St. Louis so we would be that much closer to the hospital. We had to check-in this morning at 6:30am for an 8:15am surgery time. Since Wade couldn't eat or drink anything before his surgery, he was sucking away on those fingers. 

Luckily, they had a play room area for kiddos while they're waiting for surgery. After asking if the toys are clean and sanitized, we let Wade play to distract him from being hungry. Wade fell in love with a "Cars" car in the play room. Wade even made a friend, Collin, in the play room who was one month younger than him getting tubes in his ears too. (Collins parents thought Wade was really young since he's "so small" but they were probably shocked to find out that Wade is actually older).

After some good playing time, Wade received his dose of tylenol/codone. A few moments later, the anesthesiologist team came in and asked a few questions, then took Wade away for surgery. (Although sad, I didn't cry, and neither did Wade!) Adam and I stayed in the room and watched TV until his Otolaryngologist came in to talk to us. She explained to us that surgery went great and that there was thick fluid in each ear, so he was definitely in need of the tubes. She also said to schedule a clinic appoint for 4-6 weeks from now. 


Adam and I kept waiting until we finally received a phone call in our room. It was the nurse in the recovery room and she told us that Wade had woke up and we could come see him. We grabbed our bags and headed for the double doors for the recovery room. As soon as those doors opened, I heard a baby crying and I knew it was Wade (a mother knows). I instantly grabbed Wade from the nurse's arms and tried to calm him down. I could tell that Wade was confused and his eyes weren't even opened yet. He smelled of the gas anesthesia and he was coughing and throwing his head back. (To my surprise, he did not have oxygen on and his stats were great!) After about 10 minutes of jumping between mommy's arms to daddy's arms and no luck of Wade calming down, the nurse gave him more codone and some gas drops. They said to walk around with him and after about 15 minutes of walking around the Same Day Surgery floor, he finally calmed down.


We went back to our room and I tried to get him to eat something. Once I got his cue of finger-sucking, I fed him a bottle. A couple minutes later, a nurse came in to collect his vitals. As soon as she walked in the room, Wade perked up from laying on my chest and giggled at the nurse. I was completely surprised at how fast it was for Wade to laugh and flirt as if he had never had surgery. Here it was, less than an hour after his surgery, and he was back to his normal self. (This was a completely different experience from his bone marrow biopsy back in December.)


After instructions of how to use ear drops and signing some paperwork, we were discharged at 10:00am. We left the hospital and headed home. Since arriving home, Wade re-visited with his kitties, played with some toys, and is now napping.

Although nervous before his surgery, I am very pleased at how well Wade did today. I pray that he no longer has ear infections and that his speech/language skills will improve soon. Thank you to everyone who thought or prayed for Wade today that his surgery went well. Prayers are very powerful and always welcome!

Long Day at Children's

Well, yesterday was an exhausting day at Children's Hospital, but luckily, W was very pleasant even though he missed out on his normal naps. We had to two appointments in one day and we stopped along the interstate on our way back home to meet his nutritionist for some free samples of nutritional supplements. 


First, at 9:30am, W needed to complete a hearing test. This was a very interesting ordeal since babies cannot talk to say when they hear a sound. They first had to "trick" Wade to turn his head when a sound went off by lighting up a box with a moving toy in it. Our smart cookie kept anticipating the box to light up and he looked over at the boxes without a sound going off. Needless to say, his test results showed a lot of "false positives". Anyway, W can hear, but he could definitely hear better if fluid wasn't in his ears all the time.


After the hearing test, we saw the ENT doctor. This visit was seriously the most "to-the-point" visit I've ever encountered with W. She came in and said, "Well, I see that Wade has had several ear infections lately. Can I take a look in his ears?" After confirming that he still has fluid in his ears, she continues to say, "Well, I think he's a great candidate for tubes. When would you like to schedule his surgery?" So, five minutes later, surgery is scheduled and we're on our way. Quick and easy!


After grabbing a bite to eat in the hospital cafeteria, we headed up to the Hematology/Oncology clinic. We were supposed to just see a nurse for W to receive his first shot of Neupogen, but we were able to sneak in a visit with the doctor. She was very talkative with us and we discussed several issues, such as testing me and Adam for genetic confirmation, fighting insurance for coverage, submitting paperwork to the SCN Registry and the SDS Registry, and the pros/cons of an elective bone marrow transplant before cancerous cells are even found. After talking for a while, he finally received his first dose of Neupogen. We had to stay there for an hour to make sure he didn't develop a reaction to it. We waited, no reaction, and after 5 hours spent at Children's, we were finally able to head home! We had one tired puppy who fell asleep in the parking garage...