Alexandra is a CHAMP!

July 1, 2010

Alexandra got tubes put in her ears and she did so great!  Everything really happened quickly from the time we learned that she was going to need them until she had them put in. 

When I took her in for her 12 month check-up, she had another ear infection and Dr. Connolly explained that the wholes in her ear membranes that act as normal tubes keep closing before the fluid and infection can fully drain out of her ears.  Basically she's had the same infection now for three months!  Dr. Connolly thought it was time for her to see and ENT and he said he would have the referral sent to us the following week.  Once I received the referral, I called to schedule and appt. and was told that she couldn't been seen until Sept.  I thought this was incredible.  I explained to the appt. scheduler that she had an infection that wouldn't clear up and that she couldn't stay on antibiotics for another three months!  I asked her if she had a cancellation list that she could put me on and she told me that she didn't, but I could call back periodically to check for cancellations. 

I made up my mind, that I was going to call and check for a cancellation the next day, but I was also going to call the pediatrician and have them refer us to another ENT that could see her sooner.  I called the ENT office the next day and was able to get a canceled appt. for the following day!  God is so good!  Now she was going to be see within two days of the original appt., instead of three months!

Once we got to the ENT, they performed an auditory test on Alexandra.  I thought she did great on the test, but the nurse told me that she did have some hearing loss from the fluid in her ears. Once we saw the doctor, Gary Josephson, he told me that her hearing should be completely normal again once he sees her six weeks post op.  He went on to explain to me that the two primary reasons for putting tubes in a child's ears were infections that wouldn't clear up and fluid in the ears that was starting to affect the hearing of the child.  In Alexandra's case, she met both criteria. After talking with the doctor and little longer about what the procedure entailed, the scheduling nurse came in.  Once again, God is so good.  She told me they had a cancellation for the following week if we wanted to take it, otherwise it would be 2-3 weeks before they could get her in for the procedure.  Of course, I took the canceled appt!

The day of the procedure arrived and I was really nervous about it.  My mom came down so she could stay with Aubrey and Anna and we checked into the Baptist Outpatient Center at 7:00 a.m. on July 1.  Alexandra was the third child in line for the morning and it seemed like the time was just creeping by so slowly.  After getting all of her vitals taken, talking to the doctor again, meeting and talking to the anesthesiologist, they finally took her back a few minutes before 8:40 a.m.  I had been told over and over, by friends, nurses and doctors how this procedure was very routine and there was nothing to worry about, but from the time they took her out of my arms until the doctor came out to tell us that she was fine, was the longest 10 minutes of my life!

Yes, within 10 minutes or so, the doctor came out and said she did great.  She did have infection in both ears again, which made me even moree thankful that we were able to get her in as quickly as we did for the procedure.  I'm so glad she didn't have to take her 5th round of antibiotics in three months!  They brought her back out to us a few minutes later and she wasn't crying at all (like the other two kids before had been when they were brought back to their parents)!  I asked the nurse if she cried at all and she told me only for  few seconds when she was coming out of the anesthesia.  She is such a champ!

She was doing so good, that we went ahead and got discharged within about 15 or 20 minutes.  she never even got fussy in the car on the way home either.  Keep in mind that she also had not eaten anything since 7:00 the night before!  Once we got home, I gave her some yogurt and then put her to sleep.  She took a three hour nap and then woke up in a great mood.  You would never have known that she's even had tubes put in her ears that day!

Alexandra is her hospital gown before the procedure.  Yes, she had tubes put in her ears with a bow in her hair!