tubes

It is a done deal. After the visit with the ENT on Tuesday, we decided to wait a month, check again, and then decide if we wanted to go through with tubes in Porters ears. I called Chad to give him the skinny on the visit. While he was telling me why he thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and do it, I saw Porter rub at his ear and start to whine. After the antibiotic shots I didn't want to do anything unnecessary without giving it a chance to do it's thing. But, it had been a week and he was still hurting. He had been hurting for about four months strait. I had also learned that his hearing was only at 75% due to fluid in his ear. The fluid was the real culprit. It was the reason the ear infection could never properly heal. As luck would have it we were able to fill a cancellation spot for today. Porter had a pre-surgery physical yesterday afternoon. It was all pretty quick.

We had to be at the hospital at 8:00 a.m. Man wasn't allowed to eat anything before the surgery. This was really the hardest part of the morning. I checked Porter in and was escorted to a small hospital room with a small hospital bed. His nurse blew bubbles and played peek-a-boo while gathering his vitals, and left me to change him into Loony Toons hospital jamies. The surgery wasn't scheduled until 9:30, so to distract Porter from his growling tummy we were shown a play room stocked with all kinds of great toys. While we played several staff members introduced themselves, explained their role, and double checked to see if I had questions. During all of this each raved at what a hansom little man I had! At about 9:00 we were asked to go back to our room where Porter was given a dose of Versed (also used in conscious sedation in dentistry) to help him get a little dopey, and not be upset when they took him away. It worked like a charm!

I watched the history channel, enjoyed a few snacks in the parents lounge, and called Chad. About twenty minutes later, Dr. Denman, the ENT, came to report that all had gone perfectly. The only catch was that he didn't know if the nurses would be able to stop oogling and give him back to me. It was only about 15 minutes later that Porter was wheeled in with his own blanket covering him, some apple juice and a new teddy bear. He was still very groggy. I was able to nurse him (which was much needed by both Porter and me) and let him ease back into things. We were home by 11:00, and able to go about the rest of our day as normal. None would be the wiser that he had been in the hospital today. It had all gone over without a hitch. I know that Heavenly Father took good came of him today!



Porter sporting his sweet hospital issued jamies.









In the playroom with all sorts of great new toys.









Enjoying being catered to by everyone while coming out of anesthesia.