Ear Tubes Round # 2

Liam finally slept last night through the whole night, first time in 3 weeks since his ear problems came back

Our poor Liam cannot catch a break when it comes to getting sick and he has had a rough time with his ears since he was about 6 months old.  About 3 weeks ago, I came home from work and was spending some cuddle time with my boy.  He loves his head rubbed, and I noticed he had some dry yuckiness on his ear when I was playing with his curly hair.  When I looked closer he had drainage from both ears.  I figured he had an ear infection and the ear tubes he had placed last year were doing their job and draining the infection.  Up until now, his ear problems had vanished once he had the tubes put in.  We monitored his ears through the weekend, which continued to drain, then on Monday it was back to the doctor we went.  His ears had started draining green fluid at some point throughout the night.  Unfortunately we only got to see the PA and she said she couldn't visualize the tubes, but said he had a pretty good infection going, and put him on antibiotic ear drops.  By the end of the antibiotic coarse, his ears looked normal again!!

Unfortunately about 4 days after we stopped the antibiotic, the ears started draining again.  I used the drops again we had been given, but there wasn't any change, and poor Liam was not getting any sleep at night.  Last Wednesday morning after he ate breakfast, I noticed "something green" laying on the outer part of his left ear.  Crap, his left ear tube had fallen out.  I got him back into the doctor that afternoon, and I was happy to be able to see his pediatrician that had followed his ear problems last year.  He said Liam had a big infection going on in the left ear and put Liam on two antibiotics. He said the right ear looked great, but the left ear was very infected.  He also said we needed to take Liam back to Phoenix to see the specialist who put his tubes in to see if Liam needed another surgery and have his hearing checked.  I called his doctor in Phoenix, and the soonest appointment they had was Feb. 24th, that was no good for this Mama that had a child with crap draining from his ear and was in so much discomfort from the pressure in his ear.  I called again the next day, and luckily they got us in yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday we drove up to Scottsdale to see Liam's ear specialist.  He said Liam's right ear looked great, but that he didn't like the way the left ear looked.  Liam's left ear is completely full of fluid again.  Liam passed his hearing test, but the doctor isn't sure how much Liam is actually hearing from the left ear, if anything and thinks his right ear is overcompensating for the left ear.  Due to the two infections he has had in the past three weeks, the doctor says it is best to do another surgery and put a second set of tubes in.  He doesn't want his learning and speech to be affected by the left ear if we wait or for his ear to get further damage if he continues to have more infections.  The office should be calling by the end of the week to schedule his surgery, and we hope he has it sooner than later, because he will be finished with his antibiotics on Wednesday, and we don't want his ears to get infected again.