Ear Tubes and the Promise of Sleep

Landon is now the proud owner of teeny tiny ear tubes and we have been promised that this will substantially improve, if not end, the ear infections and sleepless nights for all of us. The surgeon said she drained out quite a bit of fluid which definitely would have been hurting him, so we should see some improvement right away.

The pre-surgical fasting went better this time. He was getting pretty mad before we left for the hospital at 9:15, but as long as someone was holding him and jumping up and down, he wouldn't cry. We like to think of him as our personal in-home gym. When is the last time you actually jumped up and down for an extended period of time, while holding a 21 lb. weight? It's a work out! We arrived at the hospital and Landon was very flirty with the nurses, who all wanted to adopt him. This is him in the big chair in his pre-op room. He's totally ready to get some tubes.

And now he's in some ridiculously cute mini hospital clothes. I think he missed the surgical hat, though.

The nurses, who were wonderful (like every nurse we've worked with at a children's hospital), brought Landon a few toys to distract him from his starvation, but he was much more interested in his hospital ID bracelet. This strip of plastic kept him entertained for a solid thirty minutes.

Seriously, thirty minutes.

After the plastic ran out of magic, JP walked Landon around the central pre-op area. Suddenly a nurse walked by and plucked Landon out of JP's arms and walked off down the hallway with him, exclaiming over his cuteness. JP walked back into our pre-op room, Landon-less and looking a little bewildered, but soon we could hear the raised voices of several nurses admiring Landon from down the hall. And after about ten minutes, the nurse walked back in with a Landon who looked very pleased with life. And then, right when he remembered that he had been without a bottle for 11 hours, the surgeon walked in, scooped him up, and carried him off to the OR.

The surgery itself was very short, less than 15 minutes from start to finish. The anesthesiologist was kind enough to draw the blood for his A1C diabetes test, so I think we'll get those results back tomorrow. When we told each doctor his earlier glucose test results they were all very concerned, so we're back in the realm of being worried about it, but still waiting to decide how worried to be until we know what we're dealing with. The surgeon said everything went well and he should have almost no discomfort from the procedure itself. We'll follow up with her next week so she can check on the fluid levels and healing around the tubes.

Landon had a bottle of Pedialyte, chased it with a bottle of formula, and is now sleeping soundly in his crib, moving his lips like he's sucking another bottle. And now that I've had some lunch, a Diet Coke, and a giant cookie from Au Bon Pain, I suppose I should turn off the Top Chef re-runs and get started on my reading. I'd like to stay on top of things for at least the first week.