My sweetheart is back (an update on the ear tubes)

Ear tubes are in! We were at the hospital at six am on Friday and surgery happened around 7:30. By 8:00, E was sipping apple juice in the recovery room, and we were home by 9:30. (Unfortunately, the apple juice came back up all over her and her car seat about five minutes into the ride--not pleasant for any of us!) she was a little groggy until 11 or so, but then she perked up, started smiling nonstop, and seemed back to her usual self.

Well, her usual self except that the shrieking, demanding, whiny side of her is gone. Since Friday, she's been whiny and demanding at what I'd consider a normal level. Every toddler has moments like those and I didn't expect her to transcend toddlerhood. But now, we can redirect. Now, the whining stops pretty quickly after we remind her to use her words. Before tubes, the whining turned almost immediately into shrieking and demands to be picked up and carried around.

It's early,  but I guess what I'm saying is that these tubes have done something to relieve E from pain. And without the low-grade constant pain, she's able to cope much better and recover from little challenges far more quickly than pre-tubes. We should have done this months ago. Seriously. I don't feel too bad that we waited--it's actual surgery with general anesthesia--and I think we did the best we could to follow current advice to watch and wait and see if she'd grow out of it or if summer would be better. I'm glad we finally got to this point, though, and I certainly hope that I was right and that the pain was low-grade, not excruciating. The doctor said he didn't think she was in constant pain either, but he agreed she probably was bothered by ear pain from time to time between abx rounds.

I'm recording all this in case someone else is on the fence about ear tubes. I googled ear tube experiences over and over last week so that I felt prepared and am grateful that others wrote such reassuring things about it, too. So this is our story. If it changes or if the experience sours in so e way, I'll write about it again. In fact, today is her first day back to school, and I'll be curious to see if the stress of the long day brings back the clinging and the yelling tonight. I'm betting no, but I'll keep you posted!