Matthew's Ear Tube/Adenoid Adventure

This morning at 6:30 AM we took Matthew to the hospital for surgery. He had his adenoids removed and ear tubes put in his ears. We had noticed for a couple of months that he has not been hearing nearly as well as he used to. He hasn't been turning to us when we call his name. For a while we thought it was toddler stubbornness but a few weeks back we decided to check him out with the pediatrician. She said that there was a lot of fluid in his ears and she referred us to an Ear Nose Throat specialist. At the ENT they tested his hearing using an instrument that measured how the ear drums respond--they did not. The audiologist then did a test where Matthew was placed on my lap in a sound proof room with two stereo speakers at either side. The audiologist observed whether he would turn to the sounds made from either speaker--he did not. The ENT checked his ears and adenoids and surely enough the adenoids were enlarged and there is a lot of fluid in the ear causing Matthews hearing loss.

This morning the surgery went very well. The surgery released a LOT of fluid, which was the main reason for it. Matthew behaved very well. He was in good spirits before the surgery. (That was only partly due to the "silly juice" that the anesthesiologist gave to him). He was a little cranky and disoriented when he woke up after surgery but that was to be expected. Overall the surgery was a success. We will have his hearing tested again in a couple of weeks.

Here is Matthew before the surgery.

Matthew before surgery but post silly juice.

Matthew asleep on Tony's shoulder after he woke up or appeared to at first.

Here we are a happy family after the successful surgery. I am calling family members to make sure everyone knows that Matthew is okay.