The ear tube surgery

Since starting preschool last fall, Sawyer has struggled with ear infections and staying sick all winter. Last winter, the pediatrician recommended ear tubes after several infections back to back.

I took him to a ear, nose and throat specialist who said he thought Sawyer would benefit greatly from tubes and that it was a very minor procedure, etc. They tested his hearing, which wasn't too bad.

I didn't necessarily WANT to do the surgery, but I felt like it was probably in Sawyer's best interest, especially because he was such a late speaker and still didn't talk much at school. My biggest concern was language development, not so much the constant infections, which never seemed to bother him.

Ray, on the other hand, was heavily against the tubes. He'd done a lot of reading about the overuse of them and how many studies showed kids without them did just fine on language and reading skills in elementary school.

It was nearing the end of winter, so we adopted a wait-and-see attitude. Sawyer didn't get another infection all spring or summer.

Unfortunately, he got sick pretty quickly after school started back this fall, but it was hard to tell if it was colds or seasonal allergies. We kept him on allergy medicine for several months, and it helped a bit. But he still had two ear infections in just two months.

Then the week of Thanksgiving, he got pink eye. We took him back to the doc (not our normal one and one I will now refuse to see again) who said he still had the double ear infection we'd just treated AND it had spread to his eyes. It was clearly (in her opinion) a drug-resistant bacteria, and the recommendation was for three doses of heavy-duty antibiotic shots.

Not knowing any better, I called to get an opinion from Ray, who also didn't know any better, and asked her to confer with our regular pediatrician. We were strongly advised to do the shots, called Rocephin, and to do three doses, as in daily trips to doc that week. I told the doctor we had plans to go out of town for Thanksgiving and she acted like I was pulling Sawyer off life support.

Long story short ... we rearranged our travel plans, had Grandmother come stay to accomodate our weird deadlines at work and did the three shots. Which were ab.so.lute torture. They warned us they were very painful, and Sawyer proved them right. He quickly came to fear the word "shot."

They made us wait after each one to check for allergic reaction, which didn't happen. Well, until it did. At 11 p.m. ... the night before Thanksgiving ... at Grandmother's house ... while we were still in Greensboro. Getting a somewhat middle-of-the-night phone call about your child while you're 100 miles away is no fun.

Sawyer woke up itching all over and crying uncontrollably. I told my mom to check his legs and sure enough, he was breaking out in hives. Ray and I quickly started Googling "Rocephin" and "allergic reaction" and "side effects." I was so hoarse from being sick myself that I made Ray phone the on-call nurse at the pediatrician's office. By the time we talked to her, Grandmother and Pops had decided to take Sawyer to the emergency room.

Several hours and texts later, I got the all clear. They were home safely with Benadryl and the hives had gone away. I couldn't sleep until I heard they were home. (Just for the record, Ray was snoring beside me while I willed myself to stay away for the call.)

After the Rocephin, the doctors told us we'd been through the antibiotic spectrum and there wasn't much else we could do to treat ear infections. In the meantime, I got an ear infection and had fluid that wouldn't go away. I was certain tubes were the right choice after the pain, aggravation and hearing loss I had suffered.

So we got the first appointment available with the ENT, who still recommended tubes. Sawyer's hearing was a bit low. Ray came to the appointment with us and was convinced that this was a good preventative step to A) hearing damage and/or ear problems later in life and B) overuse of antibiotics.

We scheduled the surgery for Dec. 11. It was probably far more nerve-wracking for us than for Sawyer, who had no idea what was coming. We had to be at the Surgical Center at 7 a.m. on an empty stomach (poor kid was starving and had spied the juice I brought for him later in my purse). Then we had to keep him entertained in a room for an hour! Thank goodness for a TV and cartoons.





The doctors and nurses couldn't have been nicer. They gave Sawyer a little stuffed alligator and some stickers, and when it was time for him to go to the operating room, he went willingly with one of the nurses carrying him.

They told us the procedure was quick, and sure enough, it was only 12 or 15 minutes before they called me back to the recovery area. The nurse took Sawyer's bag of clothes and Dr. Kraus came in and said everything went well.

A few minutes later, they brought him in to the waiting area and as soon as the nurse said, "There's your Mama," he broke down in huge sobs. He was so pitiful. I guess he was confused by the anesthesia and waking up without me.

I got him calmed down and gave him the snack and juice box I'd brought. And 20 minutes later, we were out the door. He was fine after the surgery, until it came time to do his ear drops, which were required three times a day for a week! He hated them and fought us over them. He pleaded with us not to do them. He started getting used to it and then made the funniest request: Don't put that cotton candy in my ear. (Cotton ball = cotton candy) 

After I ditched the cotton, he tolerated the drops pretty well. By the end of the week, he wasn't even crying.

It's too soon to tell if it will make a big difference. Hopefully, it will keep us out of the doctor's office this winter. And if it will make Sawyer listen any better, we'll consider it a huge success.