Welcome To The Tube Club...

Well our sweet baby is dealing with his 5th (ugh...yes) ear infection in less than 6 months. Yes, that pretty much means he has had an ear infection every month since March. Seriously? Poor thing!

Totally breaks my heart to see him hurting...and I hate that I cannot do anything to make it better. Sometimes we never even know that he has one. We show up at a well check, and when they look in his ears they say "Wow...he has an ear infection". Sheesh!! That is not a fun well check!! And then sometimes we have ones like we had this past week...which are really not fun. He starts coughing and we think he might have an ear infection, so we take him in. He ends up being totally clear-ears, nose, and throat look perfect. Then random things start happening like he does not want to eat much, sucking milk from a sippy cup hurts and he is not interested, he starts not sleeping well at night, etc. We take him back into the doc and sure enough...DOUBLE ear infection!! Big time stink!! :( Poor guy...he was just trying to tell us!

I guess what has bugged me the most is just these constant trips to the pediatrician b.c we never know for sure if there is one or not. And of course I want to take him if there is any chance whatsoever...so we can get it cleared up asap. And then it is just really frustrating to have had him on 5 antibiotics already to get rid of them. Poor little man can take medicine from a syringe like nobody's business..but it still bothers me. Plus I really worry about his hearing in the future if fluid continues to sit behind his ear drums over and over again. And right now he is talking quite a bit and formulating his words...and I would hate for anything to discourage that.

SOOOO...when we got word on Tues that he had his 5th one, it was time to take action. No more playing around. We went to the ENT today to talk about tubes, and two of my prayers were answered. First-she was absolutely amazing. :) With my doctor phobia, I am really picky about who we see. Good news was that she totally rocked!! Could have talked to her for hours. :) Oh...and she was an Aggie. :) Secondly-the anethesia that is administered for the tubes is NOT given through an IV. Praise Jesus!! I cannot explain my fear of needles, and the thought of one going into my son to put him to sleep just makes me super queasy. (Chris does ALL vaccines with Braden!!) So I was beyond relieved when I heard that it was just a little mask that they take 2 breaths out of. Thank you Lord!!

So it looks like the recommendation is for Braden to go ahead and have the tubes put in (based on his history). Of course you never want your child put under for any reason...but we know it is the best thing for him. And we REALLY want him to feel better on a more regular basis. Plus the surgery is only about 10 minutes long, and our ENT doc asked if she could carry him back to the little operating room. Have I mentioned that she is the BEST? :)

We have his little surgery scheduled for next Thursday morning, so say a little prayer for us and for little B. :) They say that they are back to their normal routines by that afternoon...and they are like new babies after the tubes. We do hope to see remarkable change with these. :)

Braden-we are looking forward to you feeling soooo much better baby! :) We love you! :)