Entering the ER on January 21st, and leaving with my son’s diagnosis of pneumonia and double ear infections, I had no idea that two and half months down the road he would be preparing for surgery. 

Ear infections are nothing new to my son (or to my family for that matter) but they have always cleared up with a round of antibiotics and he’s been fine.  This time was different.  Every time he finished an antibiotic his fever would come back a day later.  It seemed the antibiotics were surpressing the infection but were not getting rid of it.  Finally, over a month later and 4 rounds of anitbiotics (amoxicillan, augmenten, zythromax, and finally Omnicef) the ear infections were gone but fluid persists.

We went to audiology and ENT and found that the fluid in his ears is effecting his hearing and it is abnormal that the fluid has persisted this long.  They recommended T-tubes for him since his ears are obviously not draining properly.  They also recommended adenoid removal to cut down on his mucus secretion, and also causes the mouth breathing and snoring.  Lastly, they looked at his tonsils and immediately asked if he has sleep apnea!  I had never even considered it but it would definitely explain the fact that he wakes up crying and someitmes couging on a nightly basis.  Aparently his tonsils are very large and most likely restricting his breathing at night, especially coupled with the enlarged adenoids and the congestion.

After all that, of course they said that the surgeries were up to me and I now had to decide what to do.  After talking it over with my husband and my mother and hearing from several friends who have had children go through the same thing, we have decided that we are going ahead with all three procedures.  T-tubes, tonsilectomy, and adenoidectomy.  I could’ve chosed to wait on the tonsils but then ran the risk of him having to have surgery a second time to do the tonsilectomy down the road.

Yesterday was his pre-op appointment and he is all set for surgery tomorrow!  I am a little nervous.  In part because he is my baby, just turned three on Sunday, and the other part because he has to go under anesthesia.  I’m 28 years old and I’ve never been put under, heck aside from having my children I’ve never even been in a hospital.  It’s always scary when your children have to go through something and you don’t know how to relate. I know it’s a pretty routine procedure but I’m still worried because I’m his mama and that’s what mama’s do.   As scary as it is, though, I know it needs to be done.  He will be so much happier when it is all over.

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