Joey's Ear Tubes

Before.....

 After....

Joey has had six ear infections since November, and so we decided to do ear tubes.  We went to Dr. Scott Phillips at CENTA on May 20.  Melanie was confused why he needed this surgery, since, after all, she had just recently fixed his ears with tools from her doctor kit.  Joey couldn't have anything to eat/drink after midnight, so we woke him up around 11:30pm on Thursday night to give him one last bottle.  We took him in his pajamas to arrive about 6:30am for his 7:30 surgery.  We took him into the operating room about 7:50am, and he sure struggled against the "gas mask."  The anesthesiologist had explained that this would happen, since it doesn't smell good to them.  He cried, his face red, and finally I was dismissed as he floated off to sleep.  No more than 15 minutes later, Dr. Phillips came out to tell us the surgery went well, and the tubes were in!  We had been suspicious of a current ear infection, since Joey hasn't been sleeping well - but Dr. Phillips confirmed he did not have any infection, but he did have some fluid "back there," so one was probably brewing.

Joey was asleep when we came back to see him.  The little guy was finally getting some good sleep, and really didn't want to wake up!  Finally we coaxed him awake, and he didn't cry or seem scared at all!  He was anxious to get some milk in that empty belly, and about 30 minutes after returning home, he was in bed for a long nap.

We are prayerful that the tubes help alleviate the ear infections, and also help him recover the slight hearing loss the audiologist confirmed he has due to the fluid/etc.  If they do have an impact on his hearing, he could also start saying words soon!  (Although, I had two witnesses last night that heard him say "DADDY!" while walking toward Jeff).