Tubes

January 9, 2009
Lucie has had nothing but ear infections and fluid in her ears the entire time I've had her. We saw a pediatric ENT specialist who advised us that Lucie was a good candidate for ear tubes. Due to her tiny ears and the angle of her eustrachian tubes, any fluid that gets in her ears cannot properly drain, which results in constant infection. So, today Lucie had ear tubes inserted. We were the first surgery of the day - we had to be at the hospital by 6am so we were up very early this morning. I am very impressed with the hospital and the entire procedure. It was outpatient surgery, and they have individual rooms for the patients and family to wait in until surgery, and for the families to wait in while the surgery is happening. Very nice. I was of course very worried about my little Lucie being put under general anesthesia and thought I might lose it. My mother came with us, and then my brother showed up at the hospital unexpectedly. I think because he was there I did not break down like I thought I would. In our private waiting room, Lucie was dressed in a tiny surgical gown (that broke my heart seeing her in that little gown) and she was given a drug to help loosen her up and make her sleepy. She was allowed to take Curious George and her blankie with her to the OR. Curious George came back with a surgical hair cap on - too cute. I wish I had gotten a picture of that, but somehow I didn't - I guess my mind was on other things :) In the OR they put her under a light general anesthesia and laughing gas to do the surgery. Dr. T said the surgery went well, and that the fluid that came out of Lucie's ears was like motor oil. You would think Lucie would have immediate relief just having that removed from her ears. Poor thing. After the surgery Lucie was in the recovery room for around 20 minutes or so until she woke up and then they brought her back to our private room. I held her until she woke up enough to drink some juice. Then Grandmommie held her and she slept a little more. After they took her vital signs and everything checked out OK we were allowed to leave. I think we were at the hospital a total of around 3 hours - not long at all. Lucie was so funny all day - very talkative and lively, I guess from all the meds she was on.