Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Zoya's Surgery Update

Zoya and Mila playing with the iPad while waiting for Zoya's procedure to start

This morning Zoya had a quick surgery to check out what was going on with her ears. At our last visit she had so much wax deep down in them the doctor had a hard time seeing what was going on with her tubes. He could tell for sure the right tube had just fallen out and he thought the left was out as well but wasn't sure. After he cleaned out the ton of wax in there, he could see in the right ear that the tube was out, still laying there, but the hole was still open (so it recently fell out which we figured) so he just popped a new one in. The left tube was about 80% out so he took it out and easily popped a new one in as well. He said it was good news the the holes were still open and that is often seen with kids with severe eustachian tube dysfunction. He said it's the body's way of naturally draining the fluid...which is the purpose of the tubes...but since they had so recently fallen out it was just as easy to put new tubes in and not worry extra fluid building up if the holes did in fact close with time. She'll likely have tubes for quite some time and require new sets each time they fall out. When she is a little older we will talk about permanant "t-tubes" if she still requires them. The doctor said it was likely that Zoya wasn't hearing great with all that wax! This doctor is FABULOUS! So nice when you find one who really loves what they do and cares about their patients so much!

We prayed she would be happier coming out of anesthesia this time. And she was! (until we got home). She hasn't had a procedure done in over a year, but with all of her prior surgeries, she was just miserable and very upset for an hour afterwards. It was awful because nothing we did helped. This time they gave her some medicine to relax her before hand...they've always done this but this time was different because the doctor was ON TIME! And they took her back right when the medicine was kicking in. She was so funny to see so loopy like that! I kissed her and told her if she was a good girl she could have some m&m's when she woke up. Don't you know as soon as they took us back (she was happy and loopy still) she said in her best drunken sailor voice, "m&m's" over and over and over again! We just cracked up. That girl does NOT forget a thing (well except the rules every now and again and how to listen sometimes, and the fact that she is not allowed to poke her baby sister in the eyes....but the "important" things...she never forgets ;)). So of course we were in the car on the way home when the fun medicine started wearing off...she was quite a handful for about 45 minutes. She insisted on getting down and walking by herself, but she could barely hold her head up, let alone walk! She was still very wobbly and had jello legs but in her head couldn't figure out why she couldn't walk. That was pretty fun....but after about an hour she was back to her happy self again!

The best news is that she doesn't even have to miss a week of swimming...she will be happy to know that! Thanks for your prayers for our Zoya girl!

8 comments:

  1. Question for you: our youngest daughter had tubes put in last May and I have been ultra-careful when she is near water, even with ear plugs in. I'm just wondering if I'm being overly cautious as I see Zoya is doing swimming lessons. We weren't given much direction after the procedure, any tips you have would be wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Erin! Our doctor told us to be VERY CAREFUL with bath/shower water...basically the only "safe" water is chlorinated water...thus the swimming :) She doesn't need plugs in the pool because she really isn't going very far under water. If her ears go under water its just for a second or two and I double checked again today to be safe. He said if she were to be going really far under water then maybe plugs but according to him studies and research show that there are very rarely any problems from chlorinated water causing infections with kiddos with tubes. I am super careful when I wash her hair as to not get any bath water in them. Her last set of tubes lasted 14 months, when the typical is 9-12 months and thankfully we never had any complications or infections. We did get a pair of plugs from the office for bath time but they kept falling out so I'm just really careful not to get any water in her ears when I wash her hair and I don't fill the tub up much or let her swim in the bathtub...bummer I know! LOL. Hope that helps!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad to hear Zoya's procedure went smoothly! Too funny that even with the anesthesia she remembered the m&m's--girl after my own heart lol!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good to hear Miss Zoya had a good experience this time with her surgery. And, I'm glad to hear Momma came through it fine too. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I came through alright ;) I have to say it was much easier this time around...not sure if it was because Zoya's already had this procedure and I knew it was quick, or because it seemed like a mole hill compared to everything we just went through with Mila! Of course my mama heart still broke a little when they wheeled her away but overall it wasn't terrible :)

      Delete
  5. So happy to hear that everything went so well for Zoya yesterday!! I'm with her....I would have been thinking about those m&m's pretty much non-stop!! Love the pic of your two sweeties together with the ipad! How blessed they are to have each other for sisters!!! Love it! (((HUGS)))!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. You are NOT being overly cautious! My twelve year old sister has had ear tubes her whole life, and we have such trouble getting her to stay out of the water as she loves extreme water sports, plus she's a preteen so washes her own hair/very stubborn! She will be having major reconstructive surgery on her eardrums in a few weeks because the water pressure caused the tubes not to work :( so being cautious is worth it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow that's awful! Yes we DEFINITELY want to avoid that! Once Zoya is old enough to wash her own hair I'll have to devise some sort of plan LOL! Thank goodness I don't have to think about that yet!! Hope her hearing wasn't affected too badly!

      Delete