... plus this: Amen to the author of
this post... I totally get it!
Evan had tubes put in his ears shortly after he turned one year old, and last summer was supposed to have surgery to have them removed!! He ended up with an ear infection after swim lessons which postponed his surgery... but thankfully, one of the tubes came out on its own. We had decided to hold off on the surgery to remove the other tube (don't want Evan to miss out on school if he doesn't have to), so we just had our follow up appointment yesterday. Well, the doctor suggested he try to pull it out and see if Evan would let him. (There are a few reasons they would have scheduled surgery to take it out; 1. kids that age don't hold still very well, 2. if he has a bad experience (ie: pain) with a doctor sticking something in his ear, he may never let another doctor near his ear again, and 3. the tubes have been in his ear for so long, it's possible the hole left in its place won't heal - so there are things with surgery they can do that will help speed the healing process.)
Evan let him, but was beside himself with discomfort after the first failed attempt. That sucker was in there good. Decision time for me. I let Evan know what his choices were; sit there as still as possible and let the doctor try again, or schedule surgery which would involve needles. Needles. Possibly his least favorite thing in the ENTIRE WORLD. He sat there and let the doctor try again, to which the doctor commented that he typically is NEVER given a second chance by a child. He got that bad boy out. I asked if I could keep it, and Evan wanted nothing to do with it.
Evan was still beside himself with the discomfort of the whole thing (I can understand the discomfort, amidst all my ear-ringing issues I've had tubes put in and taken out, and it's not fun), but we sat in the office for a few minutes looking at the diagram of the ear, including the tube, and we talked about it and why it was important to have the tube in there in the first place, and why it was important to have it taken out after nearly 5 years of being in his ear. Then I showed him the tube that just got pulled out, and all the sudden it clicked. This was awesome! He was the bravest boy in the whole wide world, and this was the coolest thing that had ever happened! He told everyone he came in contact with for the rest of the day what had happened.
Sweet relief for me. I no longer have a surgery to schedule for the summer, don't have to worry about how to fit it in with all the fun we have planned. I do have to worry about whether or not it will heal on its own, though. We'll go back in a few weeks and check the progress, but for now everything seems fine and Evan now has an awesome show-and-tell for next week!
