Tubes, tubes, tubes (and I’m not planning a river trip, people)

Well, the short of it is: Bridget is getting tube surgery on Thursday. In 3 days. Blah.

There’s not much to the story, and I know you may be shocked because she’s not really be a “sick baby” at all. She had her 1st ear infection at the same time she had RSV in January (she was 4 mo). No ear pulling. No extra fussiness. No stress ‘cause ear infections are so common. We were glad to have gotten that far without our first one!

At her 6 month check-up, Dr. Berkowitz gave her another prescription because she had “fluid in her ears” though it wasn’t infected. Again, no ear pulling, no fussiness, no fever, no symptoms at all.

At her 9 month appointment, she still had the fluid but no infection. This was the first time he said the dreaded T word….tubes. I was so confused! So shocked! Aren’t tubes only for babies that are always in the doctor’s office and always on meds??? My baby is really healthy and happy! What’s the deal? He said to give it some time and see if it goes away. If it was still around at the 1 year appointment (on September 7th, her b-day), he was sending us to the ENT.

Well, we went last week due to the terrible double D’s (see previous blog! ugh!) and what did he want to check before anything else?? Those ears (particularly the left ear…its the pesky one). The diarrhea and diaper rash/blister central were not big deal to him…he just wanted to see the ears. A lo and behold, the fluid had apparently taken up shop to stay. So we went to visit Dr. Peskin the next day.

Checking out the exam room…she was in the best mood (but what’s new?!). The physician’s assistant just about took her home, Dr. Peskin was so impressed with all of her skills (especially how social she is!), and the hearing test girl kept cracking up due to B’s antics…

 

The lovely hearing test administrator and her special sound booth…she warned us that B may get scared by the booth/test but, of course, B was awesome and thought the whole thing was super cool:

As usual, she was hungry…thank God for Cheerios!!! 

Well, Dr. P agreed with Dr. B’s diagnosis and said that tube surgery was a logical prescription. However, he said that most tube surgery patients they see are parents tired of constantly getting prescriptions and making doctors appointments. Rarely do they get a smiley, happy little one like my Noodle Doodle, he said…so he recommended we either go ahead and set up the surgery or go home and wait another 6 weeks to see if the fluid dried up.

So, J and I talked and agreed that we should probably just do it but no hurry. I’m in the middle of switching to his insurance and mine is up September 1st. What does this mean? Right…our deductible was satisfied by B’s labor/delivery/recovery and we also paid 1/2 of our out-of-pocket maximum…sooooo….we’ve got to do this s*%& quick before September 1st rolls around!!! I made the appointment today…and then cried about it :(

It’s been a stressful week. I’m ready for a break. Oh wait, that’s never happening with this Mommy gig! At least I love every minute (well, most every minute)! I’ll be happier when my little girl has a clean bill of health and back to giggling, playing, and romping again…not that she’s ever stopped that stuff. She’s TOTALLY the awesomest!

Prays for her on Thursday. I know she’ll do great (and the surgery is only 5 minutes long), but no mommy likes to watch her little one lay on a hospital bed. Go ahead and pray for me to have peace!! :)

 

Mommy out.