tympanostomy tubes and adenoid removal

13 ear infections in two years lands you straight in the office of an ENT pediatric surgeon.  we'd never really counted all of the times our boy had had an ear infection, but we knew he'd had quite a few of them.  we also knew that they were fairly hard to clear up on him and they usually always required two rounds of broad spectrum antibiotics to get him in the clear.  shortly after his first birthday we put him on a daily multi vitamin and a probiotic (he's also been taking zyrtec daily since he was about 6 months old).  it seemed to help him somewhat, but by april of this year we were full swing back into the ear infection cycle.  the pediatrician warned us earlier this spring that we might need to consider ear tubes for our fella, but it sort of never crossed our minds again until this latest ear infection.

this time daxton's ailments started with snuffles, grogginess, and just overall grumpiness back on about the first week of october.  after seeing what generally happens to him in these times i ended up taking him into the doctor and they prescribed his first round of antibiotics for this "full blown" ear infection.  the following week i took him back to the dr. because he still did not seem well and we had his birthday party coming up.  the doctor said his ear looked fine...  however by the following sunday he was back in the bed all day and clearly not well - so i took him back to the dr. again just before his birthday - and boom - raging ear infections again.  this time the dr. referred us to an ENT surgeon and said that they would talk to us about tubes and adenoid removal.

i am the queen of ear tubes.  i had them four times total (sometimes only in one ear) and the last insertion was done when i was 27.  i always had issues with nose bleeds and usually ended up at least once per month in the summer having to get my nose cauterized in the ENT's office or in the ER just to stop the bleeding.  aside from the nose issues i also had reoccurring ear infections that ended in my ear drums rupturing on a few occasions.  so, to say i am no stranger to ear infections and ENT offices is no exaggeration.

it's funny amazing how when God builds your family he lays his hand on it with his own divine design and gives you exactly what you can handle.  for me, talk of ENT offices, ear surgeries, and ear pain was just something i grew up knowing about and dealing with - so it's just no big deal.  poor will was a little more unfamiliar with the topics in yesterday's appointment, but the dr. explained everything very well and he feels very comfortable with our decision to have daxton's adenoids removed and have tubes put in both ears.

bless the poor fella's heart the dr. yesterday confirmed he's still got fluid in both ears and a slight snuffle.  he's pretty much been on antibiotics for a month at this time, and there is just not much more they can do for him beyond the surgery at this point.  we're hoping that this will help to alleviate the pressure and fluid build up in his little ear drums and that he'll suffer from a lot less ear infections moving ahead.  right now he's booked for surgery on 11/26 (two days before thanksgiving!) 

we're prepared that this is going to be a scary time for us to have daxton anesthetized, but we know that it's the best thing we can do for the situation we're in.  we're lucky to have the support of our family and church during the procedure and thereafter.  we were kind of prepared in the back of our minds that he'd have surgery for his ptosis next year, but we'd found comfort in knowing that this was still about 365 days away, so our first experience with waving good bye to our little fella being wheeled away is just going to happen a lot sooner than we hoped for.  while he is under anaesthesia they are going to do a blood draw to do allergy testing so we can see if we can pinpoint any triggers that he's allergic to.  we just ask for every one's prayers that this procedure will go as smoothly as possible and that our little dax will recover quickly so he can enjoy some turkey that thursday!  we'll be so thankful to have all of this behind us!