Hellobee

Fall and winter were pretty brutal in the Lion household. Starting in September, both of my little cubs started getting ear infections. At the time Little Lion had only had 3-4 previously in his life, and Baby Lion was only 6 months old and had never really been sick.

Fast forward to November, and both kids had pretty much been on one antibiotic after another. An infection would clear up, but then without fail reappear a week or two later. After speaking extensively with our pediatrician, we were referred to an ENT and began considering tubes for LL. Shortly after we decided to pursue this treatment for BL as well. LL had his surgery in November, and BL’s was a little later, in December.

Little Lion: 2.5 years

Deciding to get tubes – Our pediatrician recommends placing tubes if a child has 4 or more ear infections within 6 months, or has ear infections that do not clear up despite different antibiotic treatments. LL fell into the first category. As soon as one ear infection would get better, another one would start. We could tell he had an ear infection almost immediately, because like clockwork he would start waking up through the night screaming in pain. Children typically outgrow this problem with their ears by the time they are 3, but with the winter coming up and LL newly starting preschool, we decided that we would go ahead with the surgery. I feared that we would be on constant antibiotics through the winter, and I do worry about what that would do to his gut, as well as worrying about antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Before the Procedure – Our ENT performs this surgery at a local surgery center instead of the hospital. I didn’t really have a preference one way or the other, as the surgery center is very close to the hospital in case of an emergency. Our ENT is very highly regarded in the community, and I trusted his judgment as to where they surgery would take place. We were scheduled for first thing in the morning and were asked to arrive an hour before the procedure. Because of the general anesthesia, we were instructed not to allow him to eat after midnight the night before. I was very thankful that we were able to bring him in first thing in the morning. LL loves his breakfast!

At the Surgery Center – We dropped BL off with a friend and arrived bright and early at the surgery center. We checked in and then waited for a little while in the waiting room before they took us back to the pre-op room. Mr. Lion and I took turns answering questions from the doctors while trying to keep our wiggly little guy on the exam table. They did a quick exam, and then we changed him into a teeny hospital gown. Knowing that he might be hungry and fussy, we brought him a small gift to open. I figured that I would assess whatever the most challenging part of this experience would be for him and use it as incentive (this momma is not afraid of a good bribe on surgery day!). This proved to be a huge help and a wonderful distraction. LL is pretty picky about his clothing, and I knew that wearing something so unfamiliar (his “doctor clothes,” as he called them) might be a battle.

Once we got him changed, he happily drove his special monster truck around the room while we waited until it was his turn. Little Lion was blissfully unaware of what was going on, while I was a nervous wreck. Around this time, LL was going through his first ever clingy/separation anxiety phase, and I knew it wouldn’t go well when they took him away. Our center does not sedate children before the surgery, and we were not allowed to accompany him to the OR. The anticipation of this had been pretty upsetting to me and had caused a lot of anxiety. While I was confident that the procedure itself wouldn’t be a big issue, I was feeling pretty horrified at the idea of watching them take my screaming baby away from me. This, unfortunately, was just as awful as I had feared. When it was time to go back everything happened really quickly, and they carried him away without any of us really knowing what was going on. I could hear him screaming all the way down the hallway, and I would be lying if I told you that I kept it together and didn’t turn into a blubbery mess. I took a minute or so to gather my composure, and we we went back to the waiting room.

The Procedure – Placing ear tubes is actually a very quick and simple procedure. Children are typically sedated with general anesthesia, and a tiny incision is made to create an airway to the middle ear. This allows any fluid to drain and air to circulate and prevent further infections. Without the tubes the incision would heal, so the tube is placed as a spacer. This also allows quick treatment of further ear infections with ear drops instead of oral antibiotics. The entire surgery takes only a few minutes.

After the Procedure – We were barely in the waiting room long enough to sit down before our doctor came to meet us and tell us that everything was fine. Little Lion had been taken to recovery and was waking up from the anesthesia. There was a nurse with him, but generally it is a pretty scary and disorienting experience for kids. When we got back to him, he was inconsolable and thrashing around, which was also very hard to watch. Our surgery center wants kids to drink and hold down some fluids before taking them home, but no matter what we tried, LL would not calm down. Eventually they let us leave anyway, with strict instructions to have him drink something as soon as possible and to call if he wasn’t able to keep it down.

Once we were home, LL continued to cry inconsolably. None of the typical things that comfort him worked, and I know he must have just been disoriented. We snuggled on the couch for about an hour before he finally started to calm a little bit. At that point we were able to convince him that ice cream would be a yummy snack. Like someone had flipped a switch, he snapped out of the funk and was immediately back to his normal self. He didn’t need any pain medication the rest of the day, and seemed completely fine, as if nothing had happened at all. We were given ear drops to put in his ears twice a day for a few days, and told to follow back up in a week or so with our doctor.

Since the Procedure – In the week that followed, we had some pretty weird sleep disturbances. I heard of some kids coming home from the surgery and sleeping the rest of the day. This definitely didn’t happen. In fact, LL had a hard time falling asleep at night for about a week. He would happily lay by his door at night and talk to himself for hours before finally getting in his bed and going to sleep. I asked his ENT about this and he told me that it is possible that the anesthesia had messed with his circadian rhythm. Eventually this went back to normal, but it was very strange!

He has had one ear infection since getting his tubes. Unfortunately, sometimes infections will still happen. When they do, they are easily treatable with antibiotic ear drops. Supposedly they do not cause pain because pressure can’t build with the tube in place, but we did notice some of his typical ear infection sleep disturbances during that time. Overall though, the surgery was a huge success! I am very glad we went ahead and got it over with, and we are hopeful that by the time his tubes fall out we will be past this ear infection stage of childhood!

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Baby Lion: 9 months

Deciding to get tubes – By the evening of the day LL got his tubes, we decided that if BL had one more ear infection we would go ahead with her surgery as well. BL, unlike her brother, did not respond as well to the antibiotics, and her ear infections tended to linger. She had already been on quite a few strong antibiotics by this point, including a round of antibiotic shots. Unfortunately by the time her surgery was scheduled we had to wait a few weeks, and during that time she developed yet another infection that required another round of shots. We hoped that the surgery would be just as successful for her!

At the Surgery Center – The same ENT performed BL’s surgery, so most of our experience was the same. One thing I was very worried about with BL was that she was not sleeping through the night and was still eating overnight. We did a midnight dream feed, hoping that would hold her over until morning. Her surgery was also scheduled for pretty early in the morning, and fortunately she made it through the morning okay. This time we didn’t arrange for childcare, so Little Lion tagged along. He was allowed to come to the pre-op room with us, and we talked with him about the day he got his “special ears” the month before. He didn’t really have much to say about it, but he did remember his special monster truck and a few other little details from the day that I thought he would have forgotten.

This time, handing BL over to the nurses to take back to the OR was much less stressful. I honestly think this is only because BL didn’t seem to mind. I was a little bit anxious about it this time, but not nearly as much as I was with LL. Once they took her back, we all went to the waiting room.

The Procedure – Baby Lion’s surgery was a little different because they also went ahead and clipped her tongue tie while they had her under anesthesia. We had also been dealing with some eating issues, so this was a good time to do it. Because of this, BL’s surgery was just slightly longer than LL’s was, but the time still went by very quickly. Soon after we got to the waiting room it was already time to meet the doctor and go back to recovery. LL wasn’t allowed to come with us to the recovery room, so he stayed and played in the waiting room with Mr. Lion while I went back to be with BL.

After the Procedure –  When I got back to recovery I was once again greeted by a nurse and a very fussy baby. She was pretty confused and didn’t want her bottle, but we did manage to get her to drink just a little. Pretty quickly after we were allowed to leave, and BL came out of the funk much more quickly than her brother had. By the time we got home she was feeling much better. The tongue tie release was a little more painful than the ear tube placement, however, and her recovery was a little different than LL’s was. We had to do physical therapy exercises to help make sure her tongue tie didn’t heal back together, and she did need to have Motrin for the rest of that day.

Since the Procedure – Baby Lion has had two ear infections since her surgery. The first was diagnosed without us knowing that she had one (we were in the office for something unrelated). They prescribed the antibiotic drops, but at the direction of our ENT decided to wait a few days since her ear wasn’t draining. We confirmed at a follow up that this ear infection cleared on its own. Unfortunately, about a week later another developed that was draining, and we did use the drops for that one. A couple weeks ago BL started daycare, and while she has had one pretty brutal cold, it didn’t develop into an ear infection! I am hopeful that by doing her surgery so young we can avoid lots of pain in the next few years.