Holden’s tubes are in.  It was a fast surgery followed by an easy recovery.  About a week prior to his surgery, my own eardrum ruptured AGAIN, and I was back to the doctor.  AGAIN.  They had me stop taking the antibiotic that I was on when the rupture happened, and they started me on something more well-suited for the infection.  I felt better pretty quickly, although I had 4 full days of drainage from that ear.  Ick.  By the time H’s surgery day rolled around, I was on my last day of antibiotics and feeling nearly 100%.  This meant I was able to be there for Holden in every way possible.

Holden had to fast the night before surgery.  We were worried that the morning of his surgery would come and he would be upset at not being able to eat or drink.  We decided that we would distract him from hunger by popping in his little “phonics” video.  He seemed entertained, but after a few minutes, Rob and I looked at each other in horror when we discovered that every single song and rhyme was about food:  there were songs about balanced meals, songs about eating all of your food on your plate, songs about cake.  I thought for sure that Holden would become insistent about eating when the song “Cookies and milk” made its debut.  Lucky for us, Holden didn’t insist on eating, even after watching all of this food-related propaganda.

When we arrived at the hospital, we checked in and were ushered into the pediatric pre-op area, where Holden changed into his cute little hospital outfit:

Let me just say that hospitals have come a LONG way in 25 years in terms of accommodating young children.  They had a little play area set up for the kids.  They also had a staff person whose entire job was to sing to the kids, read to the kids, or otherwise reassure the kids and their parents.  Holden just absolutely loved his pre-op experience.  The best part was when he actually went back to the OR.  Back when I had my tube surgeries (I was about 4 and 5 years old for each), my parents were not allowed to come back with me as I was put under.  I can only imagine how scary that must be for some kids.  Now, they allow one parent to go back with their child.  I was given a suit to wear back to the OR, and Holden was placed in a little red wagon (instead of the traditional and antiseptic hospital bed).  I was able to wheel him back to the OR in the little red wagon as a staff person blew bubbles at him.  Holden was in heaven!  He kept shouting “Bubbles!  Bubbles!” the whole way down the hall.  The hospital staff were cracking up at him.  When we finally got to the OR, our attention was directed to a flat screen television on the wall, on which cartoons were being played.  Holden sat on my lap as he was put under.  He got all goofy, giggly, and smiley (more than usual, that is), and after about a minute we laid him on the table, I gave him a kiss, and I left the room.  Within 2 minutes of getting back to the waiting room to join Rob, the doctor came in and told us he was done.  Wow!  Holden had an infection at the time of the operation (no surprise), so he has to take antibiotic ear drops over the next week.

When Rob and I got back to recovery, Holden was already awake and crying.  He was disoriented and upset, but he gave over it within 20 minutes or so:

Within an hour of his surgery, we were home, we had eaten, and Holden was dancing around the house like nothing had ever happened.  Since his surgery, (only 2 days ago), we’ve noticed some big changes.  He is eating more.  He is talking more.  Both of those may be related to a reduction of pain and pressure around his jaw and neck—so that seemingly routine things like swallowing and manipulating his mouth are probably no longer painful.  Holden is still waking at night, but I do attribute this to the fact that he has an infection that is in the process of clearing.  Overall, he doesn’t seem like a miserable child any more.  He seems like he exhibits the “normal” amount of crankiness and whining that you’d expect from a 19-month old.  But he doesn’t seem sick any more.  And that is just awesome.