Peter's Post Op Appointment

Well, where do I start?

Friday was Peter's post op appointment at U of M to remove 5 sponges from his ear canal and middle ear.  To prepare him, Dr. T told me to drop some peroxide into his ear to soften the sponges and make it easier to pull them out.  Peter was scared when I laid him in the chair and he started crying but I held his hand and talked to him and it was over in less than 1 minute.  They came out easily and pain free (thank you God!) and by the last sponge, Peter had stopped crying.  Couldn't have gone better!  There wasn't much the Dr told me to do for follow up other than some antibiotic ear drops 2x per day, keep it dry and he would see me in a month.

These last few days have been tough and emotional.  While our Dr. spoke loudly into his open ear the day we had the sponges removed, of course Peter responded...however, Peter could respond to me speaking loudly next to his head without the hole...never the less, I left encouraged that we had done the right thing and Peter would be able to hear without the aid on his left...I trusted our Dr. I now feel this was a mistake.  The information we received today was heartbreaking for me and I am horribly frustrated with our Dr.  Most of all, shame on me for letting my heart rule my mind.  I knew I should have gotten a 2nd opinion from the specialist Dr. in California BEFORE Peter's surgery...and I didn't.  I trusted our Dr. with this decision and with our child's future...anyway ~ here is how the last few days have been, leading up to talking with the doctors in California today.

The following morning after the sponges were removed (Saturday)~ I had left Peter's aids off and stood behind him while he was eating.  I spoke to him in my normal voice and he didn't respond.  I did this several times.  After I placed the aid on his head, he responded right away...I was very discouraged.  I was toying with whether or not to call the Dr. with my concerns and thought I would wait until Monday (today).

This morning, when I went to put drops in Peter's ear...the hole was closed over in a dried puss with only about a pin hold opening.  I cleaned the outer hole enough to place the drops in and again, felt discouraged...was this supposed to be happening?  Our Dr. didn't give us much in the way of what to expect afterwards with the opening.  Later on this evening, Peter was horsing around and I noticed his face was all bloody.  Apparently, the ear lobe rubbed onto something and was a bloody mess.  Dr. T had stitched the lobe down kind of into place and one small area ripped open...not to mention the ear was draining blood now too.

Because I am not at home (I am up north this week at my parents house), I found myself running off to Walgreens at 6:30pm for band-aids, gauze and anything else I could use to tack his ear lobe down and help with the drainage.  Again, I am still stewing about our Dr. and unhappy with the way things have been going.

On the way to the drugstore, I called Greg to vent about 'our luck' and that got us talking about following up with the doctor in California about Peter's right ear.  Greg decided to call and see what he could find out.  He was able to speak with the doctors office and the news was dismal.  If you ask Greg, however, he was thrilled we finally had the answers we were looking for and we could begin planning our trip to California for Peter's new ears.

I will post a few photos of Peter's new ear hole (for my aunt...warning, might be graphic to some :)  tomorrow...a long with more details on what the specialists in California said today.