Saturday, February 2, 2008

A Success...and Blessing!


Caitlin's 'surgery' to get tubes in her ears on Thursday went well. Can you call it a surgery if the actual procedure only takes 10 minutes? ;o) We got to the hospital at 7 am, and they took her back at about 9am for the procedure. They had to put her out, but no IV this time, so that was a huge relief. She had a hard time coming out of the anesthetic, which is always gets me all worried, but she calmed down after a while. Luckily Nate was done with his test before she went back, so he was able to run over for a little while too! We were at the hospital for 5 hours, and came home with a different child!

Lately I have spent many nights in tears feeling like Caitlin treats me more like an enemy than a friend. I have tried all different things, and spent a lot of time on my knees trying to figure out how I can become a better Mom for her. Her behavior lately has been so unlike the normal Caitlin we know. I knew that her hearing was getting worse, so it all makes sense that her behavior was being majorly affected by her hearing loss.

The ENT came in after her procedure and said that she not only had fluid-filled ears, but what they term as 'glue ears'. He said rarely they'll get a child that has so much 'stuff' behind their eardrum, that it is like thick glue, and they have to do several rounds of saline before they can even get it out to put the tubes in. She had 'glue ears', and basically she couldn't hear anything below 35-40 decibels (which is common background noise). After she came out of the anesthesia, I took her to the bathroom, and she covered her ears in pain when I flushed the toilet. She is just not used to hearing things like that! At home she walked by our bathroom and kept looking around in there, like she was looking for something. Then she looked at me and said, "What's that noise in the bathroom Mom?" It was the bathroom fan...a noise she hasn't heard for so long. The doctor said things like birds chirping, the a/c in the car, and normal background noises are things she hasn't heard for a long time. We are so blessed with modern technology! I am so thankful to have my sweet Caitlin back, and I can't say how happy I am that her behavior is back to normal! (And she doesn't have any pain from the tubes, so that is a huge plus as well!)

4 comments:

Nelson Family said...

That makes me soo happy that she is doing better. I'm glad everything went okay with the surgery :) yeah for happy kids!!

Amy F said...

Oh, another happy medical outcome for Caitlyn. Congrats.

Chelli said...

Saysha! Hi! It was fun to see you have a blog. You are a busy mommy! I am glad to hear your little girl is okay. I am sure you were nervous. It looks like you are doing good! Good luck with the baby on the way! That is exciting. I saw Sarah at my pediatrician's office! She works there now. It was fun to see her!

Tobey said...

This post made me cry! I am so glad! YAY for hearing!