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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The Surgery

Last Friday our older son (OS) had surgery to remove the ear tube in his left ear. The right one fell out about a year ago. This remaining tube had been in for four years now. Normally tubes are in between 6 months and 2 years before they fall out on their own.

After a lot of hoopla, we decided to switch OS's ENT. The short version of it was that the tube had been in for four years. The new ENT said that he wanted the tube removed quickly. He normally lets them stay in for up to three years.

It's not the the Big Giraffe and I are unsympathetic parents or that we don't understand the risks of surgery particularly anesthesia. However, OS had been under before to have the tubes put in and he did fine. Also, our younger son had a much bigger surgery in January so while we concerned for OS we weren't overly anxious. OS would only be under for 4 minutes.

A couple days before the surgery I had the brilliant idea to point out to OS that he would get to wear special pjs for the surgery. He would wear a nightgown called a "Johnny". He was quiet. I mistankly interperted this as a good thing. All of the sudden his face crumpled and he burst out and said, "But then everyone will see my penis!". Uh oh. The Jonny was not a hit. I pointed out that just yesterday he had stood in the beach parking lot stark naked while I urged him to quickly get dressed after swimming. In fact he had decided at the last minute that he didn't want to wear his swimsuit home and had taken it off all on his own. That didn't go over well either. I had to convince him that he could keep his pants on during the surgery. I know other parents who've gone through this with their kids and the pants/underwear are removed after the kids are under.

The surgery went incredibly smoothly. OS was allowed to wear his pjs for the whole surgery. No Johnny in sight. We brought along the portable DVD player as a special treat and let him watch it with headphones while we were in the waiting room. They called him when it was his turn, had him lie down while I talked to him about his upcoming birthday party and four minutes later it was over.

When he woke up he wasn't dizzy or disoriented at all which surprised everyone. He was ready to get on with his day. He ate a Popsicle and a lollipop. He got a kick out of riding in the wheelchair to get to our car. We were told to follow his lead on food for the day since many kids are nauseated from the anesthia. He asked to stop at McDonald's for a special treat. Since we had been in the car for a good half hour at that point and he hadn't thrown up, we agreed. I thought it would be a big mistake, but he kept his food down without a complaint. I think he was really hungry because he had picked at his food the day before and then he wasn't allowed to that morning.

OS is doing fine. There were no drops or medications with this procedure. He still has to wear earplugs until he gets cleared by the doctor. This is because after tubes are removed/fall out there is still a hole. Once the hole heals he's good to go. Apparently the tube was completely embedded and had actually started to work it's way slightly backwards. There is no way the tube would have fallen out on it's own.

Yesterday we went to the splashpad. Since it was practically empty I told OS he could just change there. Wouldn't you know he was taking his time standing there in his birthday suit.

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Kids really do operate under their own set of rules.

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Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.

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