Life with Jack & Zach: Tubes

Steve and I ended up taking the boys back to see the ENT specialist—the same day we got home from vacation. Before we left to go on vacation, Zach woke up screaming and in some obvious pain. I called the ENT specialist that was on call and all he said to do was to take him to the ER, so at 2:30 that is what Steve did. The ER doctor was not able to do much of anything other than confirm an ear infection was flaring up and oh yeah, fluid in the ears. Zach did get a shot of rocephin, and took it like a champ. Poor thing. I was only working on two hours of sleep. AND let me mention here that Jack slept through all the chaos . Steve and I were done with the back and forth to doctors, and the endless conversations about how the boys have ear infections and fluid in the ears. So enough was enough. We got Zach on an oral antibiotic to last until we got home. Even though we were seconds away from cancelling our trip, we did decide to go because we both knew a little break from life, the hustle and bustle was much needed.

We ended up seeing Dr. Jakobsen and the boys did really well. I think it helped that he had a decent bedside manner when it comes to toddlers. After the exam he did confirm the usual for us and gave us a couple of options. I was really hoping to hear “the boys need tubes” because I have heard this will help them immensely. I felt better having a doctor tell me rather than me trying to sell the idea of why they need them. Without a doubt option 2 was tubes. What I liked about Dr. Jakobsen is that he drew a diagram of the ear and showed us where the fluid was building up that was indeed not draining. Interesting. What appears to be the case is when the boys got their first ear infection approximately 8 weeks ago, the fluid never drained….as it should have coming off antibiotics. After a few days passed, what do you know…another ear infection this time caused by the back-up of fluid. It was more of an irritant. The obvious is antibiotics only clears an infection and not the fluid but as one of the other specialist said is the fluid will typically drain, but as in the case of the boys it never did.

In any event, so we started to talk surgery. We were just about to schedule the surgery for May 3^rd but then we received even better news there was an opening at 10am the next day, yes THE NEXT DAY. Steve and I did not blink or even need to think about. Our response was if you can get us in at the last minute then we will be there. We got registered and knowing the next day would be full of challenges we had started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The immediate challenge was no food or liquid after midnight. Okay, try telling a three year old that he cannot have his milk and trix not to mention getting them up to that point until surgery time. Hmm. A suggestion they provided was to fill them up on the food and keep them up as long as you can. We gave it a go, but the theory of keeping them up later NEVER WORKS. Maybe with younger kids, but as kids age/mature FORGET IT. In any event I had camped out in their room and the boys did wake up a little later but not to what the scheduler anticipated for us. I don’t think she has kids. ;) As soon as Jack woke up and we greeted each other with a look, he gets a big smile on his face and said HI! Zach was awake and went right to the playroom. Okay sit down if you are not already. The boys did not ask for one thing the entire morning. We kept them upstairs and distracted them as much as we could. Amazing and shocked since milk and trix are two words that come out of Zach the moment he steps foot in our room.

We arrived at our destination, which is right across from the doctors’ office so it was easy to find. The boys did really good as they waited their turn. There was a fish tank in the office so that kept them occupied for a bit…;). When they called us back to get ready, Jack instantly got upset and did not like being there. Zach was happy to follow all orders from the nurses. Eventually it was time for “happy hour” wink wink and Zach was feeling really, really, good about things. HA. The Anesthesiologist was really awesome too; overall bedside manner was fantastic. They only had to get anesthesia from a mask so nothing that was injected. Within 10 minutes Dr. Jakobsen walks out and said he did great and is in recovery. Just like that the surgery was over. He did drain a lot of fluid/puss from Zach’s ears which was probably making him VERY uncomfortable. As soon as Jack was feeling pretty “happy” about things, the Anesthesiologist picked him up and it was funny to see Jack interact with him in that condition.

We were able to go back to the recovery room while Zach was sleeping. The goal was to get him to sleep for 30 minutes; he did and Jack not so much. Although Jack quickly cheered up after about 3 popsicles. J The purpose behind them sleeping in recovery would lead to how they would react coming out of anesthesia. Jack was still woozy so I had to carry him wherever we went because the poor boy could not walk AT ALL. This lasted for about 4 hours. Eventually we tried for a nap but Zach was not having it. We then got them in the car and that did the trick…for Jack. Zach just enjoyed listening to himself talk the entire road trip. We ended up having to wake Jack up at 6pm so that we could get food in him and get him in jammies. He still went to bed at normal time, and that was probably because of the medication.

The recovery nurse indicated they could resume their daily routine the following day although no swimming until their follow-up. They go back in two weeks from date of surgery for a post surgery examination and hope that things look good! Fast forward a couple of days and all we have to say is…Jack and Zach are back! J

Here are some moments we captured after leaving the doctor office and the day of surgery. Thank you to those who sent their well wishes. It means a lot to us considering it has been very trying to say the least before the surgery.