Thursday, August 7, 2008

Willow's Ears


Despite her obsession with food, Willow is the smallest of the children (at her age). She had her 12 month check up Monday. She is 28 3/4 inches which is around the 40th percentile. (For comparison, Luke was 32 and Abby was 29). Willow's weight is 18 pounds, 4 ounces. This is around the 10th percentile. (Luke was 23 lbs, Abby 19 and 5). We didn't discuss this at the doctor's visit, however, because we were focused on her ears, which were still infected.

Willow has had at least 8 ear infections since December. The last several were since the beginning of July. We go in, get a prescription for antibiotics, take it for a week and then the fever comes back (while still on the antibiotics) and we start over again. The fluid in her ears hasn't drained for months and the medicine no longer works to keep it from getting infected.

We met with an ear, nose and throat specialist Wednesday. Now that Willow is one, she can safely have tubes put in her ears to help them drain until her ears mature. We have the surgery scheduled for Tuesday, August 12th. It's only supposed to take 5 minutes and then we'll go home a bit later. I really think this will make things a lot better for her. She will have a lot less pain and she will be able to hear better. I'll post later about how it went.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Davis, my 5-year-old had the same ear infection problem. He had one for a year straight with no breaks. The problem was we didn't know it because he never had a fever or complained of any ear pain, but he would go for check-ups and it would still be there. So last year we had tubes put in. It seriously only took 5 minutes and it was over with. We took him back to prep and the doctor came in, a nurse escorted us to the waiting room, and in less than a commercial break she came in to get us. The only "problem" was that he came out very groggy and confused as to where he was, but after about 30 minutes we were on our way and walking around Lowe's. And we haven't had any ear problems since. It should be quick and easy and make her feel so much better! I'll keep you guys in my thoughts.

Laura said...

Thanks, Alescia. It's good to be reminded how simple and quick this will be. I'm not really worried right now, but maybe tomorrow morning...