Tough Guys Come In Small Packages

Well, we officially made it through Ty's third surgery in a year and a half! On the menu today were his third set of ear tubes, an adenoidectomy, an ABR (auditory brainstem response) hearing test, and his annual bloodwork. Quite a production!

I noticed a few months ago that Ty's speech was starting to slow down, and he was pulling at his ear frequently following an ear infection. Even though his tubes were only 3-4 months old, I had a feeling they were blocked and not functioning. Sure enough, after a visit to his pediatrician and ENT, it was confirmed that his right tube was in fact blocked (neither doctor believed me at first either, because the ear drum looked good from the outside...don't mess with a Momma's intuition!). During surgery today, not only was his right tube blocked, but it was falling out, holding a mess of thick, infected fluid behind the eardrum. To our surprise also, the eardrum in the left ear was starting to grow over the tube, so it was most definitely time to replace that as well. We're SO glad we caught this early when we did!

The adenoidectomy was up in the air entering surgery today. His ENT is conservative with surgeries (which I greatly respect), and only wanted to remove the adenoids if absolutely necessary. After viewing their large size however, he did decide to remove them to promote better eustachian tube drainage, and hopefully avoid further surgeries.

Lastly, I requested an ABR hearing test to be done today, as it can only be done under sedation. To this day Ty has never had a "normal" hearing test result, due to all his ear fluid, and the inaccuracy of behavioral hearing tests. We were warned that ABR results are typically low immediately following surgery, so not to put a lot of hope into getting a good result. But like always, Ty surprised us all, and scored in the *normal* hearing range, despite all the swelling from surgery. The audiologist assured us that hearing is something we can cross off our list to worry about. Talk about amazing news!!!

Recovery was long. We've learned that our guy takes a little longer to snap out of anesthesia than most kids, but that's okay. Today's cocktail also included a couple of doses of morphine, which really took him to another planet for a few hours! By the time we reached the lobby though, he was asking to eat graham crackers, so we knew he was feeling a little better! Now at home he's walking around, eating all the graham crackers and apple juice he wants, and playing. Hopefully we're out of the woods!

Thank you to everyone for keeping Ty in your thoughts!

(no pictures today...if you'd like a mental image, he's in his football jammies, has some serious bedhead, has purple marker on both earlobes, and dried blood under his nose...a true hot mess! :)