Surgery

I took Ty to a preschool screening just to make sure things were alright with him back in May. He had such a hard time following directions I thought there might be a problem which My husband gets upset with me saying that. I think I was inspired to take him because we would have never known he had problems. He did really good on most everything being above normal on a lot of it. Then we got his hearing test and he failed. I was thinking it just must be that he is making out to be a game and not telling the girls when he hears stuff. So they did more tests where they send this sound wave (or something like that) in his ear and record it coming back and he failed in both ears. My dad's side of my family has a history of hearing problems so I was worried this was going to be a life long thing for my little guy but I knew he could hear because he could hear me fine. His speech was really good when he was tested too so it wasn't effecting that yet. Anyway I took him into the ear nose and throat dr. and he found fluid in both ears that was causing his hearing loss. Now I think back on this entire year there were a lot of times I would call him and he wouldn't come and I would get mad at him for not listening. I'm sure he couldn't hear me. He would have me turn up the TV and repeat stuff but I never connected that to being a hearing loss. So we did a month of antibiotics to try to solve the problem but it didn't work (and I could tell, his hearing seemed to be worse) so we went back the the dr. and we decided surgery was needed. Not only did he need tubes in his ears but his adenoids and tonsils were huge causing some of the problem. We decided to get them both taken out and to put tubes in. I know that kids get tonsils out all the time but when it's YOUR kid it's different. The thought of my little baby laying asleep on a table while people were cutting things out of his throat really bothered me. I really had to gear up in my mind to get this done. Monday was the day of the surgery and we got there just before 9. I'm really glad Bryan was there with me because Ty is a daddy's boy and he loved being there with dad. For some reason our surgery ended up waiting a extra hour for the surgery then we though so thank goodness I brought lots of books and things for Ty to do in the mean time. I felt really calm about the actual surgery and was more worried about him getting put under then anything. Ty wasn't worried or scared at all though. I had talked to him about it and he was ok with everything (at least before the surgery). The dr. came in and said it was time Ty and took his hand and they left. I'm glad they didn't make it a big production. They didn't even give us a chance to hug him and make a big deal but I'm sure that was easier for him. He didn't make any sort of a fuss about it. They let him take his favorite bunny with him too. We didn't see him for about 45 mins after that and I was feeling pretty sick while he was gone. I knew they were working on my little baby and I kept thinking about when he was a newborn and so little and jaundice. He had dropped down to 5lbs 5 oz and was really jaundice and we had to get his heal pricked all the time to get him tested. I would hold him and cry as they tried to get blood from his heal. It was the same feeling I was having then thinking I know it's for his good but he is just a little guy and I don't want to inflict pain on him. Then we could hear a little kid crying and I told Bryan I thought it was Ty. We could still hear him and I knew it was my kid. So we peaked our head out the door and they were pushing him over in a bed and he was laying there balling and rolling in the bed. I was trying really hard not to cry because I knew Bryan would tease me (which I don't know maybe he felt the same way) and they asked us to go back in the room and they were going to bring him to us. They laid him in my arms and he wouldn't stop crying and coughing stuff up. He had mucus in this throat really bad and he HATED that so I bet we went though a whole box of tissues wiping his spit he kept spiting out. That went on for a hour or so and they took his IV out which made him happier and we got him in his normal cloths which he liked better too. He was still crying the whole time though. His face looked a little swollen and under his eyes were discolored. The Dr. came in to talk to us and said everything went really well and they found a LOT of fluid behind his ears. It was for sure hindering his hearing. I was happy to hear that because I was feeling so guilty about the whole thing. Bryan and I were doing out best to make the right decision for my little guy but to see him there in so much pain and knowing I choose that pain for him made me feel so guilty.

We were only there until about 12:30 and then we got to bring him home. I felt so bad putting him in our hot car after and driving home. I sat by him and just held his hand. Bryan ended up taking the rest of the day off because by the time we got his medicine and he calmed down a bit it was around 3. Bryan was so good with him. He hates when his kids are sick it just makes him sick. We laid him on our bed and let him watch tv. He didn't really sleep until about 6pm and he just laid there looking half asleep all day. It was awful. We couldn't even get him to smile or anything. He had been doing better every day since. I'm just waiting for his scabs to fall off his throat and the pain is going to come back again. He told Bryan the day of his surgery that I had lied to him when I told him he was just going to have a sore throat after his surgery. He said that it really hurt more then just a sore throat. The day after I was holding him and getting after Blake and he turned to me and said "mom you are really loud!" and I knew the surgery worked. I just laughed. When Blake screams (which is REALLY loud) he covers his ears and cries. He keeps asking me what that noise stuff is like my microwave beeping and the balloons hitting the ceiling. I'm glad we got the tubes and I'm sure when this is all over I'll be glad we did the other stuff too. I'm not a big fan of putting my kids through surgery. I would MUCH rather be doing it myself instead of them. I wasn't prepared for him to react like that after his surgery for some reason. I was thinking he would be kind of mad and then we would read books and color until we leave. Not hold a crying kid for a hour and a half. I wasn't prepared for the guilt I would feel either. I've been surprised how much he prefers his dad over me too. That makes me feel bad. I keep thinking he should want his mom over dad but he keeps asking to sleep by dad and not me and wants dad to hold him and not me. Now if I could only keep him from trying to fight with his brother and stop running around everywhere and take it easy. I just hope he continues to get more hearing back!