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Upda….er, Nevermind

My brain is seriously lacking any amount of creativity lately. I think if I could figure out how to get to sleep sometime before 1am I might be a little better off, but seems with all that’s going on lately, I’ve got a bit of the old worry-wart insomnia.

First things, first: we had Cooper’s pre-op appointment this morning and he’s been cleared for surgery on Friday. Since his cold seems to have resolved itself and it didn’t turn into an ear infection I was starting to wonder if maybe I didn’t need to do the ear tubes. Glad I didn’t say anything because the pediatrician found that he had fluid behind both ear drums…clear, not infected, but fluid none-the-less. Last week at the ENT he only had fluid behind one ear. So now I’m totally back on the ear tube train and am NOT getting off. Especially because Justin has promised me IHOP breakfast after Cooper’s surgery (pending Cooper’s disposition afterwards). And if he’s not up for breakfast at IHOP, I will get it via carryout. Priorities, you know.

So what I’m wondering about now, all you ear tube initiated, is the “custom” ear plugs. Or ear plugs in general (i.e. the ones in the ear/eye care aisle). Give it to me…any and all of your thoughts, feelings, experiences, rants, tips, etc. I, uh, keep forgetting to ask the doctor, but I kinda trust all of you out there more than someone who’s going to charge me for something probably not covered by my less-than-stellar insurance (even if he’s a very very nice and kind and gentle man).

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In other news, congrats to Holly and her mighty “Heffalumps & Woozles” team. She soundly kicked everyone’s butt in Fantasy Football this past weekend. Now that I figured out how to hit the “submit” button after moving someone onto my bench, I think I might do better for next week. Or probably not since I don’t know squat, but it’s been fun anyways!

About the Author

Colleen

This is a blog where I will share my adventures and mundane tasks as a work-out-of-home-mom. I now have 2 kids and my wonderful husband, so the juggling has gotten a little bit more tricky (man-on-man defense). We also have 2 dogs and 3 cats (we used to have 4) so as you can imagine, our household is pretty busy. Since I never feel like I'm being listened to, I figured I'll just start talking at the general Internet community and see what happens.

14 Comments

Nicole

Am I a bad mother for admitting that I would seriously volunteer one of my children up for surgery if it meant I would get to have IHOP for breakfast?

As I know you are in need of hearning me say it, I think you are doing the right thing in regards to the tubes, and I hope that they will put an end to the endless stream of infections. I will be thinking of you all on Friday and hope everything goes smoothly!

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LL

Our ENT, who’s a faculty member at the University of Chicago medical school and leading researcher in pediatric ENT issues, actually said to forgo ear plugs and not worry about water entering the ear. The point of the tubes is to drain the ear just like (or actually better than) a normal ear, and she said she had seen no difference in post-tube infections over her years of practice between those who use plugs and those who don’t. Landon has a splash-filled bath every night and went to the pool 4-5 times a week this summer- we never used plugs and he never got another infection.

All that said, JP has chronic Eustachian tube issues and he uses custom ear plugs because he says the generic ones aren’t worth anything. His ears are so screwed up tubes didn’t do enough to drain out any fluid that entered his ears on a daily basis. If it weren’t for custom plugs he never could have become a college swimmer!

Anyway, ask your doctor of course, but ours actually recommended against plugs for a toddler, saying they aren’t worth making the baby mad to get them in. As long as he’s not getting gallons of water constantly flowing in there, the tube should drain any fluid just fine!

Good luck on Friday!

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Valerie

yummy…IHOP…I am jealous now!

I am interested in the responses you get about ear plugs. We are gonna need them in a couple months too, so I need to start educating myself on them!

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calicobebop

Muffin had eartubes put in and tonsils/adenoids taken out last year. She’s been infection free for 13 months and it’s HEAVEN!

Our ENT did not recommend earplugs. He just said to be careful in the bath and not to let her jump into water over four feet deep.

As of today (13 months later) both eartubes are still intact. They even made it through swim lessons this past summer!

I’m not sure if our experience is typical, but I hope so – because the eartubes have made life so much better.

Best of luck! The surgery won’t last long but I know it will be nerve-wracking the entire time. My thoughts are with you!

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jen

Our pediatric ENT said that we didn’t need to use ear plugs for baths and such as long as he isn’t just laying there with his ears under water for an extended period of time (floating w/ ears under water). Swimming in pools is okay because your ears don’t usually stay under the whole time. He said DO use them if he goes in a lake or river though. Pools are okay because the chlorine kills everything but you never know what is in a lake.

Even if Coop feels okay after the surgery, I’d be cautious how much you give him to eat. Our nurses gave Holden a popsicle and some juice and said he could eat whatever and whenever he wanted. I asked “even a burger on the way home (not that he would want one, but just checking)?” and they said “sure.” We didn’t get a mile down the road before he threw up that popsicle and juice.

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Roger

You can put tubes in MY ears if I get me some IHOP! I LOVE that place. Too bad the family doesn’t share the same love.

That being said – I believe that you will be losing to ME this week. 🙂

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ascapecodturns

I highly recommend the IHOP french toast with an ice cream scoop of butter! Mmmm, my mouth is watering.
Hope everything goes well on Friday and this fixes the ear trauma once and for all! My nephew’s tubes did wonders for him!

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Flea

Dude, I have no clue. And I haven’t been to an IHOP in years. Do they still have those cream of wheat hotcakes? Those ROCK.

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Karen

Micah won’t have anything to do with ear plugs, and they were only given to us on his 4th set anyway. (I caught him trying to flush them down the toilet one day.) The DR told us that unless they’re swimming in dirty lake water they don’t really need them. Which is very good to know.

I’m so glad you have a carry-out option with IHOP. We (stupidly) ate out after one of Micah’s tube insertions and he barfed all over the table. We were then The Worst Parents Ever. People were wondering why we brought a sick child into a restaurant, and we couldn’t really say “oh, no. He just had surgery.” Because we’d be major losers if we took our boy out to a restaurant for our own personal enjoyment while he was nauseous from the meds. Go carryout.

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Kelley

I totally want an IHOP breakfast now, even though I have no freaking idea what it is…

Good luck on Friday babe, it is Friday night here so it must be Friday day there… or something.

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Wendy

I hope all goes/went well with the surgery. I discovered your blog through lagliv (I am the annonymous that you defended in the political post – thanks! And, oh yeah, if you continued in the comment stream on that, I gave my name as Kelly because… I could), and, in reading it, have discovered that we’re probably neighbors – not sure where you’re at in NOVA, but if the Jonas Brothers made someone late getting home, then I would bet not far. 🙂

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