Friday, February 6, 2009

Tubes

What a difference a day makes!! Graham sat at the breakfast table this morning and jabbered and sang to us! We can really tell that he's hearing better. Praise God!!

Here are Kelly and I trying to keep Graham entertained in pre-op. Our surgery time got bumped back a little because of an emergency surgery, so he was getting pretty restless. He took a nap on mommy for a while.

The doctor said that the fluid behind his right eardrum (the one that's ruptured twice) was the consistency of SILLY PUTTY. He said he most likely couldn't hear anything from that ear. The fluid in his left ear was a thinner consistency and lesser in quantity, so he was hearing in that ear. Can you imagine?! If we hadn't done tubes, I'm wondering if he would have had permanent hearing loss in his right ear. Now we're putting drops in his ears several times a day and we'll go back to see the doctor in a week.

Here's how the morning played out--I had to show you how CRAZY FAST the procedure itself was:

5:34am: Picked up Kelly (I know...I can't believe she offered to go somewhere at this painful hour of the day!) Brent stayed home to take care of the Sophie and Blake, who were still sleeping.
5:55am: Checked in at Surgicare
6:20am: To pre-op area--we changed him into a gown and kept him entertained until the procedure
8:15am: The nurse came and carried Graham off to the operating room--he didn't squawk or anything! Big boy!!
8:21am: Dr. Bunting was finished and came to talk to us in the waiting room
8:30am: We were able to go to the recovery room to hold Graham, who was already awake
8:45am: Discharged and walking to the car!

When we got home, Graham ate two bowls of oatmeal and a piece of toast. Hungry boy! Dad came down to help out, and Graham felt good enough to play outside by late afternoon. He took a nice long nap and was ready for fun!

It was warm enough to not need the hats, but we wanted to keep Graham's ears covered. Not wanting him to feel picked on, we put Blake's hat on, too. (As an added bonus, the hats make me smile, so it's a win-win!)

Grandpa reading a new book to the kids

Graham telling Grampy all about his procedure

3 comments:

Christy said...

Not sure it would've cause PERMANENT damage, but big time speech delays would likely have followed! See it all the time! You should definitely see an increase in vocalizations and verbal attempts! Keep introducing him to familiar sounds you take for granted and NAME what you're hearing. Could be anything you'd think silly even. For example... if you flushed the toilet, tell him that's what he's hearing. If the bird is singing, tell him. If you turn the page, emphasize the rustle of the paper. He may have missed those little whispy sounds and needs to know how to label them now. A LOT of vocabulary can be made up quickly at this juncture. He's missed out on those hi frequency speech sounds too: /s, f, sh, t/, etc. Keep talking and labeling. Have him make silly sounds with you. I'll bet he missed out on some babbling practice. Call me if you'd like more info!

Jennifer Gragg said...

That's CRAZY FAST! Good to know. Zoe has chronic ear infections & even poor little Nolan's all ready had one. So happy to hear it when smoothly & he's a happy boy now.

Jen said...

Makes me anxious to call my doctor to get Camden in...I would hate for him to not be hearing everything...poor little guy. Glad to know it was a FAST procedure and he was able to play outside the same day! YAY! Hats are really cute btw! :-)