colby's surgery

A few years ago, Colby started having trouble with his hearing.  It always started around January when he would struggle with seasonal allergies.  We tried several medications, and eventually determined that Zyrtec worked best for him.  But sometimes, when the drainage would get bad, his hearing would be affected.  I would take him to his regular pediatrician at Cooks, and sure enough, his tympanogram would be flat, meaning that there was fluid behind the eardrum.  It rarely led to an ear infection, so we tried to manage it with the Zyrtec and occasional Benadryl. 

Fast forward to the summer when I took Brooke for a second orthodontic opinion.  The orthodontist also looked at Colby's teeth, and commented about his huge tonsils.  I felt justified in my concern because I had noticed the same thing, but the pediatrician never seemed concerned.  The dentist had also mentioned it once because apparently that is a factor when children grind their teeth.  Something about "trying to increase their airway."  

So after that comment, I made an appointment with an ENT.  Upon examination of Colby's ears, he found that his right eardrum was retracted which could potentially lead to a cholesteatoma. He explained that if left untreated, it could seriously damage his hearing. (According to Google: A cholesteatoma is an abnormal collection of skin cells deep inside your ear.  They're rare, but if left untreated, they can damage the delicate structures inside your ear that are essential for hearing and balance.) He also explained that his adenoids could potentially be adding to the problem as well.  

He recommended that Colby have surgery to remove his adenoids, and also get ear tubes that would enable drainage of the middle ear, allow air to flow into the middle ear, and prevent the buildup of fluid behind the eardrum thus causing his temporary hearing loss. 

He said that we could also remove the tonsils since they were very large, but that it was up to us. I wasn't sure what we should do, so I asked the doctor what he would do if it was his child.  He said he is pretty conservative, so he would probably leave the tonsils and only remove the adenoids and place tubes. I told him that I wanted to talk to Kevin, but I was pretty sure we would follow his conservative route.  Kevin definitely didn't want to remove the tonsils if the doctor wasn't strongly recommending it, so we moved forward with the doctor's recommendation. 

Colby was pretty nervous about the procedure, but I assured him that the people at Cooks would take good care of him :) The morning of the procedure, we dropped Brooke off at school, then headed to Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth.

He was less than thrilled about wearing a hospital gown, but quickly decided that it was actually pretty comfortable :) And he loved the grippy socks!

They let him relax and watch television while they came in to get information from me.  They asked if I thought Colby would struggle being separated from me, and since I wasn't sure how he would feel, I opted to let him have some "happy juice" before they wheeled him away.  He was just super calm and didn't seem concerned at all about the separation.  I was nervous about how the IV would go, but then I learned that they wouldn't even place the IV until he was already sedated.  The Children's Hospital really knows how to make it a pleasant experience for the kids!

It was hard to watch him being wheeled away, but I felt confident that he was in good hands.  They had asked where I parked, and when I told them I was in the parking garage, they asked me to move my car to the valet area since he wouldn't be able to walk that far.  As soon as he was gone, I quickly booked it all the way over to the parking garage, got my car, took it over to the valet area (where I had to park myself since it was packed), and rushed back into the hospital.  The whole process took SO long and I was freaking out that I wouldn't be back by the time they brought him back to me.  The surgery was only supposed to be about 20 minutes, so I was cutting it close!

I had literally just sat back down in the room when I saw the door open and they wheeled him back in.  He looked like he was fast asleep and I nearly broke down in tears.  They said he had opened his eyes and when asked if he wanted to see his mom, he said yes. 

Watching him come out of the anesthesia was pretty rough.  He kept complaining that his throat hurt and he just seemed so sad. His little chin was quivering and he just seemed uncomfortable. He refused the popsicles they offered to help with his throat, but he finally asked for ice water. 

When he was more alert, he started asking to go home.  We were waiting for the doctor to clear him, so I tried to comfort and console him, but he kept telling me that he "just wanted to go home."

Eventually, he had to use the restroom, and since he was still unsteady, they recommended that I take him in the wheelchair. We eventually spoke with the doctor, who said that everything went really well, and then it was time to take my brave boy home. The nurse wheeled him out to the car, where I hoisted my 60 pound boy into his seat. 

He fell asleep within minutes and was snoring the whole way home. 

I carried him into my room, where he napped for the next hour or so.  I think being under anesthesia really wore him out! 

When he woke up, he requested the ice cream that I promised him, so we made our way over to Cold Stone. He was looking pretty pale, but he said he was feeling okay. 

I had asked Joanna to bring Brooke home from school so I didn't have to drag Colby out of the house, and when she showed up, she had a huge carton of BlueBell caramel brownie ice cream and some Italian Ice desserts for Colby. Needless to say, he was a very happy boy!

The doctor recommended that he skip baseball on Saturday, but we did take Colby with us to watch one of Brooke's softball games.  He wasn't feeling great, so Kevin took him home and then I stayed home from church with him on Sunday.

We had to put ear drops in each ear for the next 10 days (I think), and although he didn't like how cold they felt, he was a good sport about it all.  The nurse had also warned me about how his breath would have a strange odor for the next few weeks, and she was absolutely right!  

He will also need to wear ear plugs when he goes into lake or ocean water, but thankfully we are entering Fall/Winter weather so we won't have to worry about that for a while. 

Overall, it was a great experience and we are hopeful that he won't have to deal with fluid behind his ears or the worry about permanently damaging his hearing.