Tubes

This morning, my son had to get tubes put into both of his ears.  He had three ear infections that were treated with antibiotics and the infection just wouldn’t go away.  We took him to an ENT and after visiting him twice and monitoring my sons ears for a month, he recommended that he get tubes.  I was little nervous when I thought about my son going under anesthesia and the scalpel.  The staff at St. Mary’s hospital was top notch and his ENT was very personable and sensitive to our needs.  Things went smoothly and he was walking around playing about an hour after the surgery.  It was great to see him acting normal and playing. The only problem that happened was when my son didn’t like the cherry flavored Tylenol and spit it out.  Maybe he was having flashbacks to the cherry syrup he had when he was circumcised as a newborn.  My pediatrician warned me that he may never like cherries as a result having cherry syrup during his circumcision.

The ENT said fluid came out of his left ear when he made the incision.  He described my son’s right ear as dull and red but no fluid was present.  He said it should help his balance, hearing and speech.  After the surgery, he seemed a little more sensitive to sound.  The night before was tough because he had a hard time sleeping which means my wife and I didn’t get much sleep last night.  He has always struggled for sleeping at night and the ENT said he thinks the tubes will help.

Every time I have a medical experience as a patient, I really scrutinize it because I want to be aware how patients are treated and feel in anticipation to surgery or medical treatment.  As a future physician, I want to be sensitive to how patients feel and how they are treated.  I believe it will allow me to be more sensitive to my patient’s future needs.

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