Ear, Nose, & Throat.... o my

After waiting many long weeks, we finally had our appointment with the ENT. I was nervous the whole day wondering what he would say, and the outcome of the appointment. We got to the office and waited an hour to see the doctor, it was past naptime, my girl was melting down, and I knew this was not going to be fun.

They took us back in the room, and then we waited some more. I has pretty much exhausted all of my "keep her occupied" options. We read a book, ate a mum-mum, looked out the window, walked the hall, and now she was every bit of a tiredmeanieletmesleepnow girl.

The doctor came in, looked in her ears.. which of course set off a cry bomb. Then a nurse came in to get some sound wave readings on her ears. The doctor said the infection was gone but the ear canal was still full of fluid. He told us that his criteria for tubes is more then 5 infections in 12 months or more then 4 in 6 months, well we are at number 5 and she just turned 7 months.

He suggested we go ahead and set up the surgery for the tubes. Of course it sounds like a great idea,no more running to the pedi for antibiotics every few weeks for another infection. However my girl.. she loves her some bath time, in her ducky tub, and now she will have to be very careful with bath water, it cannot get in her ears, so she will have to wear ear plugs.. not sure how well that will go.

The part that stresses me out just thinking about it, is the anesthesia, she will only be 8 months at the time of the procedure. Being a nurse I am very familiar with anesthesia both general and local, I realize people undergo procedures that require it all the time, but I also understand there are risk's associated.

I know that she will wake from it very angry, because she will be so disoriented, and scared. This part also worries me. I know how strange of a feeling it was for me when I woke up from being under, its not fun.. but for a baby It must be a scary situation. The doctor says within a few hours post procedure she will be back to her normal self, and we wont have to deal with ear pain any longer. She may still get infections but will no longer need oral antibiotics just ear drops to clear it up.

Sometimes I wish I didn't have my medical background when it comes to parenting, then I would know all of the risk's involved, and have read the case studies, or seen things go bad. I also wish that being a parent didn't mean I had to make so many tough choices. I know this may not seem like anything big, but there are just so many things about this that worry me, including the part where they take her from me before she is out, I have seen this so many times working in the hospital, and the mom is crying and the child is scared and crying...

O how I wish this could all be over. My poor girl just hasn't gotten a break, its been one thing after another for her. She has had so many trips to the doctors office, so many medicines, and so many visits to the hospital... when will this part be over, when can she just feel well?