Ear Tubes!

After 7 ear infections and a whole lot of antibiotics this year, Micah had surgery on July 12 to put tubes in his ears and hopefully fix the problem.  The surgery was done at the Geddy Outpatient Center, and his doctor was John Howard with Hampton Roads ENT-Allergy.  

Micah and I arrived at 7:30 in the morning.  They schedule the little kids first because the patient can't eat or drink anything from midnight the night before the surgery.  Micah usually drinks a big cup of water first thing in the morning, and he was very thirsty and unhappy that Thursday morning.  

Jared and I had to divide and conquer that morning because Luke had therapy from 8 am-10 am, and I didn't want him to miss because he only has a few visits left before the move.  So Jared was taking care of Luke.  My friend Stacy had volunteered to take Luke to therapy that morning, but being the idiot that I sometimes am, I forgot to notify the therapy office ahead of time.  So Jared had to take him and I had to be tough.   

The nurses were all kind and helpful.  They brought us into an exam room (triage room?  recovery room?) where they took his weight, blood pressure, temperature, etc. and also dressed him in his surgery gown.  Micah HATED the gown.  I wished he could have just gone naked.  What is the point of the gown anyway?  He hasn't leaned modesty yet.  The world is one big Garden of Eden.  Anyway, I had the nurse snap a shot of us:

We had a few minutes to kill while we waited for the doctor, and we didn't have to stay in the room.  There was a red wagon available to pull Micah around the floor of the outpatient center.  Micah wasn't actually a big fan of riding in the wagon.  He liked pulling the wagon himself or running laps around the nurses station instead.  But we did get a few pictures of him in the wagon during the 2 minutes or so that he stayed in.

Micah would cry and point when he saw one of the nurses holding a cup.  He was so hungry and thirsty.  He saw a spot on the floor and ran over to it, almost frantically.  He was yelling, "Cookie!  Cookie!"

But it turned out to be just a spot of rust or something.

Poor kid!  He wanted out of there!

The surgery itself was probably the easiest part, although the moments surrounding it were rather traumatic for Micah.  The doctor came in to see us and answer final questions about 8 am.  The surgery nurse came to get him about 8:10 am.  Our parting moment was not fun.  Micah was crying and calling for "Mama," but the doctor was back by 8:30 to tell me the surgery was done and everything looked good.  Micah stayed in a recovery room for a few minutes while they monitored him to make sure he wasn't having any bad reactions to the anesthesia.  The doctor and nurses had warned me that Micah would be screaming and crying when they brought him in.  They said that is a normal reaction to the anesthesia because kids wake up very disoriented and afraid.  Micah thrashed around and cried for probably 15 minutes or so.  It was very sad!

Since I was alone with 2 big bags and a screaming baby, a hospital volunteer settled us into a wheelchair and pushed us out to the car.  The nurses were scared that I would drop Micah if I tried to get everything myself.  I think they were probably right, and I was grateful for the help.  Once Micah was strapped into his familiar car seat, he began to settle down.  When I offered him fruit snacks, he snapped out of it completely.  By the time we got home he was pretty much his normal self.  The only difference was that he was incredibly uncoordinated.  He would stumble and fall just walking across the room.  But he wanted to do his normal activities (that means climbing), and I was too scared to let him.  Micah had a rough time being forced to read books and watch movies on Mama's lap.  I put him down for an early nap after a good breakfast, and when he woke up he was completely back to normal.  You'd never even know he'd had surgery that morning.

So glad for good doctors and for a trooper of a baby!