Dylan's surgery - Part 1

So Dylan has always had crap ears...when I mean crap...I mean crap...I have always been a worry wart when it comes to my kids...most likely because I am naturally a worrier and some of my friends have special needs kids, so I worry...I noticed when Dylan was about 7 months old, he wasn't responding to ANYTHING AT ALL!!!! I mean dogs barking, clapping behind his head, no sound...So like all moms, I took him straight to the pediatrician. It turns out Dylan's ear drums had burst and he wasn't hearing anything so they had to grow back. They slowly did and then around 11 months old, they burst again. So after 2 sets of burst eardrums and more than I can count ear infections, he got an urgent set of tubes. Of course his ear drums burst for the 2nd time when I was away on work...I felt like the mom of the freaking year let me tell you...He got the tubes and the infections stopped and he slowly finally started making sounds. He was also completely non-verbal before this happened. He was deaf during what they call a critical hearing period, so now we needed to work on his speech.

We started in speech therapy when he was about 17 months old. They thought things would get better with the tubes, but because of the severity of the hearing loss (which is TONS better now), the delay was considered moderate/severe. All of this caused just from a tiny pair of cute little ears!

Anyway, on April 26 I took Dylan in for his routine hearing check up. He has to go every 6 months because of the ear drums bursting. The doctor looked at me and asked if Dylan was fussy or cranky or had a fever..Nope, he was fine and as rambunctious as ever..he is asking me this as he is climbing on the table and counting to 3 to try and jump off...Does he look sick? :)  ..Turned out one of the tubes had fallen out (it lasted 14 months which is normal) and he had a very bad infection and the other tube was about to fall out (plus it had a dog hair in there...I know, so gross). This is how his ear drums burst before...he shows no symptoms of an ear infection until they burst, so we could not allow that to happen again. He put him on a 5 day round of antibiotics and said to come back the following Wednesday. If the infection has not cleared up, we were going in for a 2nd set of tubes, which is really no big deal...In and out and on your way home.

Unfortunately, the antibiotics did nothing and the infection was still there when we went back...Not only was the infection still there but his adenoids and tonsils where incredibly swollen. The doctor looked right at me and Gabe and said, surgery is first thing Friday morning. The tonsils and the adenoids have to come out and the ears must get fixed. I thought we were getting tubes people. Not what is considered a major surgery for my little 25 pound baby...

It turns out they think one of the reasons Dylan is a terrible eater is because his tonsils were so swollen that he could barely swallow, so he only ate the things that didn't bother him. So the doctor thought all around that this was for the best!

We were told to be prepared to stay in the hospital overnight for the night of the surgery and then we would get to go home. So Gabe and I lined childcare up for Landon and left for the hospital that morning since Dylan was first to go because of his age. They told us the surgery would last about an hour and then once he was wheeled to his room, we would meet him there. I know this wasn't something life threatening, but it really did feel like the longest hour ever!

Poor guy had no idea what was about to happen to him.

Dylan watching Barney just waiting to be taken back

Hanging out with Daddy

He LOVES the ABC book

He was just his normal self....he is my wild child and when it was time for him to go back, they just asked him if he was ready to go for a ride, and he smiled and said YES! He hopped on the bed with his dog and said "love you mommy" and he didn't even look back as the doors shut behind him.

He was so brave!