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Big Day

Meg’s ear appointment was supposed to be last Wednesday, but somehow, the hospital over-booked and we were bumped to today.  If you recall, we were getting ear tubes put in to help limit or eliminate her countless ear infections, hopefully spurring her to start walking and put on some more weight (she’s skinny!).  The procedure is outpatient surgery, something neither Brooke nor I have really had much experience with, so the whole thing was rather interesting.

We got a call yesterday afternoon that instructed us to have Meg here at 7:00 am.  So, Brooke and I got up at 5:30, got everything ready, then woke Meg up and hopped in the car by 6:15 to head down to Iowa City.  We got here a bit early, but got checked in pretty quickly and was moved back to the pre-op area.  All the nurses and doctors were very impressed with Meg’s demeanor, as she was being shockingly good compared with the other toddlers that they usually see.  Honestly, I was pretty surprised too, as Meg couldn’t have anything but clear liquids before going into surgery…and she could only have those clear liquids 2 hours prior to the surgery.  Therefore, Meg hadn’t actually ate or drank anything since 7:00 pm the night before.  That, and to get her there on time, we had to wake her up a good hour before she would normally wake up.  All things considered, she was very happy.

We had to keep her entertained for 30-45 min before they took her back for surgery.  She got her oxygen levels checked on her toe and her blood pressure done on her leg, all while I tried distracting her with a book.  Worked pretty well, really.  Meg did not want to be weighed, and wasn’t a fan of having a stethoscope on her chest.  Other than that, she did alright while being poked and prodded.

…but she was pretty upset when the doctors had to take her to surgery.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t accompany her back there unless one of us got dressed up in a surgical gown, etc., so we just let the doctors do their work.  Brooke and I had to sit in the waiting room for another 30 min or so while the work was being done, then the doctor called us in to talk about things.  Meg did quite well, apparently.  Tubes put in, went under anesthesia just fine, and seemed to be coming out of it well, too.  After Meg was awake, the doctors brought her in to a post-op recovery room where we had to sit while we waited for her to be allowed to leave.  They had to do the same oxygen, heart rate, etc. tests again, but nothing was different.  In the picture above, you can see the cotton balls in her ear, but we removed those shortly thereafter.

Oh, and Meg was very thirsty.  As in, 20 oz of apple juice in about 15 min thirsty.  And she liked the hospital graham crackers very much.  🙂

Because Meg was so good, the nurses brought in a few stuffed animals for her to choose between.  While I would have chosen the blue, furry monster, Meg went with the smaller, less interesting yellow bear (?) with sunglasses.  She didn’t ask me, though.  Oh well.

All in all, the whole morning went very well. I was still able to make it to the lab by 10:00 am to get some work done, and Brooke took Meg home, still in her pajamas.  We have some ear drops to use for the next week or two, and she should only need Tylenol today, but we’re told she should be mostly back to normal by this evening, already.

Hopefully she’ll sleep well.  She had a big day.  And did great.  🙂

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06.13.11 Dinner

Breakfast pizza and orange-banana smoothies. We thought the immersion blender was kaput, so the smoothies were a treat when we figured out how to fix it!

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06.12.11 Dinner

Mashed potatoes, Italian sausage, and green beans. An attempt at cheesemaking didn’t work out quite as planned last week, so I’m trying to think of ways to use the result up. The mashed potatoes were a perfect conduit for runny cheese!

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06.10.11 Dinner

Even after several years of a photography project in 4-H, my picture taking skills are still lacking. I was always better at composition and not the technical aspects. This dinner was tilapia, pasta salad, and oranges. I had planned to grill the fish, but the weather didn’t cooperate, so it was pan-fried instead.

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Flag Day

There are certain random dates I know of because of equally random reasons, and June 14th is one such day: Flag Day.  The only reason I know it’s Flag Day is because, around the time this post is going live, just about 15 years ago, my wonderful parents were driving me around in our old Chevy Suburban putting up the Stars and Stripes at various locations around Downtown Columbia, then going back later that night to pick them all up again.  I don’t remember the exact number, but I’m pretty sure it was close to 50 flags.  Our Boy Scout Troop put up the flags as a fundraiser on the different patriotic holidays throughout the year, and Flag Day is one of the common ones my family usually chose, as we were frequently available.

Flag Day always serves as a reminder of my time in Boy Scouts, something I haven’t really thought too hard about in the last decade (and then some) after completing my Eagle Scout rank.  It’s one of those things I kinda hope I can get back to some day, preferably with a son in tow.  In retrospect, it reminds me quite a bit of getting through graduate school.  In both processes, you select a committee, you present a project to them, you update the committee on your progress on a regular basis and they give you pointers and support to get you through it, culminating in one final test at the end of it that really isn’t much of a test, as much as it is a conversation about your experience throughout your time there.  Both are grueling processes, but I can’t help but think that my participation in Boy Scouts, amongst other things, contributed to my ability to get through graduate school.  Definitely not something I considered at the time, but worth telling future scientists working toward their Biology and/or Chemistry merit badges.

So, always remember: June 14th is Flag Day.  And if you see a kid putting flags out in Downtown Columbia, and his poor parents with their 32 oz coffee patiently watching and helping, tell them “thanks.”

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06.07.11 Dinner

It was really hot last week, so we put our grill to good use to avoid heating up the house even more. Italian sausage, peppers and onions, and potatoes with fresh herbs that Mallory gave me for my birthday!

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“…it’s a series of tubes.”

We’ve been fighting Meg’s various ear infections since, oh, last November or so. We think it started around the time she came down with strep, and thereafter, it just seemed like she had a (likely unrelated…) string of ear infections that just…wouldn’t…go…away… We tried at least 4 different antibiotics, nebulizer treatments, and once we hit Spring, even some allergy medication. None of them would ever, truly, get rid of the infections. Sure, while on antibiotics, she would improve, but a week or so later, she’d be back to her ear infected ways.

We didn’t even notice at first.  She went in for a regular check-up and they told us she had an ear infection.  She had been sleeping alright (relatively speaking…), never had a fever, no discernible hearing difficulties, and wasn’t pulling on her ears or anything: Meg wasn’t presenting with any of the typical signs, so we hadn’t even noticed.  Since then, we’ve paid a bit more attention and can usually tell when it’s getting worse.  Then, we make the appointment, get some more (or different) antibiotics, she gets better for a week or so, and then it gets worse again.

Finally, over a month ago, we scheduled the appointment with the otolaryngology department here at the University to check her out.  Took that long to get her in…  Yesterday, at the appointment, Meg did remarkably well!  The doc said she had some fluid in one of her ears, but definitely no infection in the other one.  In the end, she recommended going with ear tubes for sure, then if they pop out too soon (i.e. less than 6 mo; they can stay in up to 3 years), or the infection comes back, then consider “shaving back” the adenoids.  Others had told us that tonsillectomy could be in the picture, but this doctor didn’t think her tonsils were bad or anything (w00t!).

Now, what are these tubes going to do? Here’s the description and diagram:

Ventilation tubes allow fluid to drain out of the middle ear space and allow air to reenter. The risk of recurring ear infections is greatly reduced. Hearing returns to normal with the tube in place and speech development can get back on track.

So after this is done, and assuming it works, we’re hopeful that Meg will put on some more weight and start walking, as we think her whole system has been messed up, slowing her development.  She’s cruising just fine, can stand, and has even taken a step or two, but it just seems like her balance is off and is affected by the ears.  For example, she only seems to try taking steps when she’s only a day or two out from beginning a round of antibiotics.  Sure, correlative, but balance in a biped is greatly affected by the situation of your ears (specifically, the semicircular canal, a component of your inner ear).  So far as speech development goes, she’s making attempts at repeating words you say, and frequently she succeeds, but at 15 mo old, she probably should have been doing this more a few months ago.

Meg isn’t too far behind, but we’re hoping that getting tubes in will help her out.  Then she can start running around and terrorizing the chickens and her mother.  🙂

Oh yeah, and the title comes from the late, great Senator Ted Stevens…who described the internet as a “series of tubes.”

Sigh.

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06.03.11 Dinner

When Andy’s parents brought Meg back from her week at their house, we had shrimp kabobs, potatoes, and Andy’s mom’s Chinese salad. Also, homebrew and homemade margaritas!