Kendrick's Surgery

Kendrick has been going to the neo-natal follow up clinic for check ups/progress since he left the NICU. Once of the tests he has done is a hearing test. The nurses were not able to get an accurate hearing test and there was fluid behind his eardrum.

The first time this happened, they said it was an ear infection, and they prescribed antibiotics for Kendrick.

Three months later, we repeated the tests at the neo-natal follow up clinic again. They still were unable to get an accurate ear/hearing test. There was still some fluid behind his eardrum and they recommended we see Kendrick's pediatrician.

Kendrick's one-year appointment was in two more weeks or so, so we decided to wait until then to have the doctor check his ears then. Kendrick hadn't really been acting like his ears were hurting or anything. We were just concerned that if he wasn't able to hear correctly, it would affect his speech development.

So, we went to this one year old check up and talked to his doctor. He suggested we make an appointment with an ENT doctor. So, we did and the ENT doctor, Dr. Robins, said that one ear was 100% full of fluid and the other ear was 50% full of fluid. So, we set an appointment for surgery for tubes to be put in his ears.

I was sorta concerned about it, but then after listing it on facebook and reading everyone's comments about the procedure and how many of my friend's kids had had the surgery, I was a little bit relieved.

Kendrick's surgery was on Thursday, October 6. We had to be at the hospital in Provo at 5:30 a.m.! He also couldn't have anything to eat or drink after midnight the night before the surgery.

We woke him up at about 4:45, changed his diaper, wrapped him up in his jammies and headed to the hospital. We brought a warm blanket and a bottle to give him right after the surgery. Everyone told me that he would be a little "crazy" and cry a lot after coming out of the anesthesia, so to have some things to comfort him.

Here are some pics we took that morning. We only had our cell phone camera with us, so the pictures aren't the best!

Waiting for them to call us back.

Kendrick was walking around and also colored in a coloring book while waiting.

Kendrick in his hospital clothes - wondering what is going on!

Getting a little bit restless!

He was probably thinking, "not this place again!" - after being in the NICU!

Just waiting for the nurse to come get him.

After a while of waiting and having the nurses and the doctor come in and explain everything to us, they came and took Kendrick back to have the surgery. It was kinda weird to have them take him and we just stayed there and had to wait.

The surgery took about 5 minutes, but then they have to wait for him "wake up" from the anesthesia. When they brought him to us, he was crying. And he kept crying! So, we wrapped him in his blanket and gave him his bottle and he would calm down for a little bit, and then cry and then stop, and then cry. This went on for a while, then they let us go.

We stopped and got something for him to eat on the way home and after eating, he fell asleep. He slept for about 2 hours. When he woke up, he acted fine, like nothing had happened. Until we had to put the drops in his ears, and then he would fight us.

Everything is going great so far. We had a checkup with Dr. Robins and he said everything looked good.

Things are also looking good with his hearing and speech development.

We love Kendrick and are glad everything went well with his surgery!