Feeling Better

Cole has had over 7 ear infections in the past 7 months. After a gillion Dr appts, today he successfully had tubes put in his ears. Cole was a trooper. The trip to the surgery center was a nightmare. Cody was scheduled to fly home the night before but due to Colorado’s crazy blizzard winds in excess of 70+miles all the airports were closed. Panic. Where can I take Case? I don’t want to drive in this weather. Can I handle Cole on my own? I don't want to do this by myself!  Oh no, please help.

Help showed up. At 10pm in the evening a good friend Jen M, whom I met at the gym and who’s son is in Cases school class, stepped up to the plate and offered to watch Case in the morning. One obstacle down, several more to go. The evening before the surgery was rough because Cole was not allowed to drink anything past 12 pm. Needless to say getting someone to sleep who uses a bottle to calm down is not easy. And of course, Cole woke up at 12:23 wanting a bottle. Oh no, let the fun begin. Needless to say sleep was not something I enjoyed that night and 5 am came all too quickly. Obstacle two, check. Then, what should have been a 20 minute drive ended up taking over an hour and a half because of the icy roads. I was an hour late getting to the center. Pretty please, no more obstacles.

On the bright side, all the hustle and bustle surrounding the hospital kept Cole’s mind off being upset about no breakfast, no bottle and being woken up 2 1/2 hours early. Blessing one.  Next, I was allowed to go back into the surgery center and be with Cole during his prep. I was even allowed to go back and kiss his face, brush his hair with my fingers and whisper that I love him in his ear while he was placed under anesthesia. Big big blessing two.  Finally, apparently the sleeping gas can be hard on kids and they freak out while going under. But Cole kept totally still as they put on the mask and didn’t move a muscle as he drifted off. Blessing three.  Even as non-dramatic as the sleeping procedure was it was still hard to see his eyes just flutter off.

However the biggest blessing of them all is that the tubes have been a success. Even as little as an hour after the surgery Cole was playing hard core, joyfully screaming at the top of his lungs and chasing dogs and people alike. He definitely feels better. Now he is louder and even more ornery than ever (Lord help us all). I am looking forward to improved speech and language development now that he can hear. Cole tries to talk all the time and says the same nonsensical statements regularly. It will be interesting to see what he has been saying all along because the boy defiantly had an opinion. I am just glad he is feeling better.