Tubes...

Well yesterday was the big day!  Colton officially has tubes in his ears, and I couldn't more excited!  I hope this keeps ear infections at bay and that we can move past the last couple of months.  Everything went great with the surgery and his recovery.

We got to the surgical center at 6:30am to finish filling out paperwork.  Must admit I read every inch of that paperwork!  When I have medical paperwork to fill out on myself, I skim it and initial/sign where they tell me to.  Not yesterday, yesterday I read every square inch and every word on those papers; I wanted to know exactly what I was signing for him.  What was I promising not to make them liable for, what exactly are all the possible side effect/reactions, everything!  After everything was signed, they took us back to do his vitals.  It was funny, they took his weight (a whooping 22.8lbs!), Kyle picked him up and the nurse looked up and says 'Oh my God' starts laughing and says 'You are definitely your daddy's baby!'  It's always funny to see people's reactions when they realize how much Kyle and Colton look alike :)  Anyway, then we had all the 'talks' with the nurses, ENT doctor, and anesthesiologist about the procedure and what to expect afterwards.  The nurse came and took Colton from us, which was super hard on mommy, and we went back to the consult room to wait for them to come get us afterwards.  I sat down, looked at the clock on my phone, it was 7:43am.  A little bit later the ENT doctor comes in and tells us how surgery went. He walked out, I looked at my clock again, it was 7:50am.  You read that right...7:50am! The entire thing took less than 10 minutes!  They then came back, got us, and took us to Colton's bedside so we could wait for him to wake up.  It took a few minutes, but when he came out of the sleep he jolted and woke up.  He was a little disoriented, groggy, and fussy.  I picked him up, gave him a bottle of juice, and talked to him; he calmed right down.  The nurse said he must be a great baby because most come out of the sleep crying and are hard to console...nope not my trooper he rocked it!  We had to wait for them to release him, that wait was actually longer than the actual procedure.  After we were released, we loaded up and head home.  By the time we got home the anesthesia had completely wore off and he went right to playing with his toys!  They had said he would maybe be groggy or cranky in the morning, but by afternoon would be back to normal, and he was back to normal within a couple hours of surgery.  He is such a big boy and trooper.  Mommy and Daddy were so proud!

Momma I can't find anything to play with...

Got a Referral

We ended back at the doctor yesterday for what we thought was an ear infection starting.  The Dr said his ear was a little red, but not infected yet; he also said he wouldn't be surprised if it turned into one because he has a cold, so just call if it does and he will call in some meds.  While at the appointment, he told us if he does get another he would refer us to an Ear, Nose & Throat specialist.  I told him I would rather go to a specialist now to get it checked out instead of waiting.  That way we would know if it is something that could be fixed with tubes or if Colton's body is just resistant to certain antibiotics.  So he put in a referral for us, super excited!! :)  Hopefully the specialist can tell us something and we can get his ears all straightened out.

All Better Finally :)

Well we ended back at the doctor with Colton's ear infection on the 5th, and the doctor changed his prescription to yet another medicine.  After a few days you could tell it wasn't working, so I called back again and told Colton's nurse his ear was leaking, he wasn't eating, and he wasn't sleeping well.  We were able to finally get an appointment a day and half later and decided that antibiotic injections were the next step.  So for 3 days we had to take him to the doctor's office to get antibiotic shots.  He was such a big boy and only cried for a split second.  After the second day you could tell they were working...finally!!!  He was so much happier, playing more, and finally eating from a bottle again!  He even slept through the night in his own bed 2 nights in a row!  Yay back to sleeping all night and in his own bed again after month of sleepless nights or being in our bed :)  Although I must admint, I did like snuggling up to the little guy at night...

Dang Ear Infection...Dang ER...Dang Doctors!

A few weeks ago we went to the doctor because Colton had gunk leaking from his ear but wasn't running a fever.  The Dr said it was an ear infection in both ears, gave us a prescription for Amoxicillin for 10 days and sent us on our way.  A couple days after finishing up the 10 days of Amoxicillin we ended up back at the Dr because his ear was leaking again (no fever)...Kyle thinks it didn't heal up the first time all the way.  So I take Colton in the morning, pick up the prescription during my lunch and take it to day care to give it to him.  I get there to pick him up in the afternoon and they point out a rash on his face.  I start looking around and notice it is on his back, chest, arms, etc.  On my way home I call the after hours nurse and she says it is probably a 'non-allergic rash' from the Amoxicillin this go round, and to give it to him like normal that night.  So I do as she says and give him the medicine and he goes to sleep...for some reason we decided to let him stay in our bed that night...we never let him start out in our bed. Well around 11:15 we wake up because he has this horrible raspy cough out of nowhere. It kind of scared us so we woke him up, but the coughing kept happening and started sounding worse.  I called the on call nurse and she said shouldn't be a big deal just watch him and take him in the morning.  So we are up playing with him for a bit and he starts rolling his tongue around mouth kind of weird and keeps coughing.  Then he gags. We looked at each other and Kyle said we needed to take him to the ER.  So we put on normal clothes and get in the car and hurry to the ER. 

We get there, check in, go back for evaluation in triage, and they send us back to the waiting room.  Where we waited...and waited...and waited...for 3 1/2 hours!  It was 3 1/2 hours before we went back to see the DR, then another hour or so before we actually saw a doctor.  The DR was in there for a whole 2 seconds, said the rash looked like an allergic reaction--by now the coughing had stopped--wrote us a new prescription, and sent us on our way.  A total of almost 5 hours totally wasted in the ER.  The only thing quick about the entire process was when the lady came in to ask "cash or credit on your co-pay."  I could have hit a fool!

In the morning I called Colton's doctor and told him what happened and wanted to make sure the new prescription was ok to give him. When they finally called back they actually tried to tell me it wasn't an allergic reaction and to give him the Amoxicillin again.  I was firm about not trying a third time so they said to try the prescription the ER dr gave us.  So here we are today...hoping...praying that this works!