Friday, January 4, 2008

Another one down...

We're just back in from the hospital. DX had a mastoidectomy on his left ear this morning, and the ear tube replaced in his other ear. While I knew that the mastoidectomy would involve an incision behind his ear, I wasn't prepared for the extent of it. It pretty much starts right under his earlobe and travels around to the top of his ear. Poor baby.

The good news is that what appeared to be a soft tissue growth in the CT scan seems to be "just" inflamed and old scarred tissue, likely caused by numerous untreated ear infections (babies with cleft issues are very prone to these). The finally pathology report will take a week or two to come in, but the ENT doesn't seem too concerned that it is anything more than that. He does believe, though, that DX's eustachian tube in that ear is probably permanently damaged from scarring, so he may need ear tubes on that side indefinitely.

DX was a little more upset this time when it was time to go to the OR. I suppose the memory of his palate surgery - only 6 weeks ago- is still fresh. He almost didn't get to go in at all! During the preliminary questions, I told the nurse that he went to his first day of preschool yesterday, and that there were 2 confirmed cases of chicken pox there. Well, they quarantined us immediately until I could get the preschool on the phone (at 7:45 am!) to get more details. Luckily, the 2 children who got them were NOT in his room, so they let us out of quarantine and into the waiting room! Understandable, but a tad frustrating.

Well, I hope this surgery puts an end to them for a good while. He's such a little trooper, but I'm sure he's had enough. So has Mom!

8 comments:

Project Ni Hao said...

Sending hugs to DX for swift healing from the procedure. I'm glad everything seems to be okay, other than the build-up of scar tissue.

Anonymous said...

I feel like putting little notches on a post or something. We are waiting for the plastic surgeon to call with a date for our next adventure.

Glad to hear all went well today. What brave little troopers we have!

Kelly said...

Glad to hear that he is doing ok. I was wondering how things went. Poor little guy. I feel so badly that he has already had 2 surgeries so closely together. Good thing he is so brave. So is his Mom! :)
Hugs to DX & the girls too.

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Tracey and Mike said...

Wishing DX a speedy recovery. What a little trooper! We are hoping that the ENT doesn't discover anything like this when Ran has her surgery. We're a little worried since he says the fuild is causing "structural changes & changes to the vascularization". I guess only time will tell.
Hoping that this is the end of things for a long time for DX!

wzgirl said...

Sounds like pretty good news, although I'm sure "enough is enough" - so I hope for a speedy recovery and no need for more tx for a while. XO

Dawn said...

Your little guy is so precious, and your girls are darling. I hope everything continues to go well with his healing. Thank you for stopping by our blog and sending kind wishes!

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear the surgery went well - hugs and best wishes for a speedy recovery.