ENT Appointment

August 29, 2013

After our pediatrician found fluid and pus in LJ's left ear at his well check last week, we decided to get a follow up appointment with an ENT, Dr. Russell Briggs.

We have fought fluid in LJ's ears and infections a lot! Basically from last October/ November 2012 until his last bad infection at the end of April, he was never able to totally clear the fluid from both ears. And he had about 5 infections within the year (that we caught). This is painful, terrible for their ears, could cause permanent damage if it gets too bad (like hearing loss), and I also hate putting him on antibiotics too often. And we had him on a nasal steroid for about 6 months trying to help him drain his nasal congestion better.
We feel like we 'lost' our baby quite often last winter, as his personality would change (obviously from being uncomfortable from the ear pain), he stopped sleeping well, especially nap time, and would wake up screaming. The reason we never put tubes in his ears last year was because, as our doctor explained, children's anatomy changes - usually around age 2.5-3 years- and they are able to naturally drain fluid from their ears better (why adults get ear infections so much less frequently). And we kept thinking if we could just get through the 'season' of colds/ allergies/ etc, and then his anatomy would change, we could avoid surgery.

The ENT's examination showed that LJ seems to have just about cleared the pus and fluid that the doctor saw in his left ear a week ago, but now the right ear is full of fluid and pus :( Poor LJ! He hasn't even been in a bad mood or given us the slightest indication that he is uncomfortable this week!

Well, maybe his anatomy will change soon, and maybe he wouldn't get as many colds this year as he did last year, or have the allergies... BUT we have decided the surgery is minor enough, and he is already fighting fluid, pus, and infections before starting at TWO new schools (twice the germs!)... and we just don't want our little LJ to be in anymore unnecessary pain!
So we have decided to move forward with getting tubes put in LJ's ears. The doctor said we would need to clear up the pus in his ear now, so he started taking antibiotics along with the nasal steroid today so that hopefully in about a week to ten days, we can get the surgery done. The doctor said they would just be giving him laughing gas, and it will take him about 3-4 minutes per ear (so total surgery time is under ten minutes). Recovery also seems very fast- he said by the afternoon, LJ should be back to himself and feel like nothing happened! We will have to take a few extra precautions while swimming and bathing, but easy and minor (like ear plugs or drops if water gets in).
We are a little sad that LJ has to have any type of surgery, but we think that it seems to be the best decision for him at this point... update to follow!