take 3

Well, Robbie's ears are *finally* no longer infected.

We saw the ENT on Friday and he said they were no longer actively infected, but are still full of fluid.

He also said he already had some ear drum thickening from the ear infections.

Robbie was sort of a borderline case for tubes, so he left it up to me. His general feeling was that if he's had this much trouble with his ears during the summer "safe" months, the winter was probably going to bring us a lot more trouble.

Our pediatrician said the same thing last week, and I tended to agree, so I said we'd go ahead and do them.

An added benefit is that if he does get in infection with the tubes in, it can be treated with ear drops instead of oral antibiotics. As we've been through tummy hell the last few weeks with the oral stuff, that was music to my ears. (Pardon the pun.)

They go in on October 14th. We scheduled it for several weeks out because Robbie's still quite sick right now and needs to be completely well for surgery.

I'm a little nervous, mainly because of his history with anesthesia. Since his last surgery was supposed to be outpatient and turned into a day in the PICU and 2 days in the peds unit, I tend to get anxious when the subject of being knocked out comes up. The good news is that this is a very, very short surgery. So short, in fact, they don't even give him an IV (thank goodness- he's got plenty of scars already) or intubate him. They just gas him for the 5-10 minutes that the surgery takes. Theoretically he'd be ready to go home just a couple of hours after the surgery is over. I'll be packing an overnight bag anyway, but hoping to not need to use it.


He's still wheezing a number of times during the day and just generally has a yucky cough and a snot-filled head. Fortunately, he's still in good spirits and is sleeping well most nights. Napping has been less then successful and the coughing and drainage has definitely lead to an increase in his puking. It's amazing he's so happy and playful when he clearly doesn't feel good, but he is. I can't express enough how blessed we are to have such a wonderfully good-natured son.

Please continue to keep Robbie in your prayers. His lungs really could use a boost.


--Trish