going tubing

Remember when tubing was this?



In an effort at full disclosure, I have no idea who that girl is. My friends and I weren't that "earthy" [read:dirty hippie]. But it gives you an idea of what my friends and I did during our summers at Virginia Tech. Just add a tube with a cooler of beer attached to it, some iffy sunburns, and a pack of cigarettes in a ziploc bag. Oh, and the requisite "Oh my God! I lost the keys!" fiasco.

But now tubing is this...


We took Britton to the ENT doctor today and discovered that even though she has been on antibiotics for the past two weeks, she has another raging double ear infection. And she needs tubes as soon as possible. Which normally wouldn't have been a problem, but Britton and I were scheduled to fly out Friday to visit my family over Easter weekend. And the doctor only does surgeries on Fridays, and he was booked solid. So we're getting there bright and early Friday morning to get Britton's tubes inserted, and I spent a little time this evening on the phone with Melissa from Southwest Airlines rescheduling our trip.

We have the option of either having Britton go under anesthesia or holding her down in the doctor's office where they numb her eardrums and do it there. Both come with risks, of course, but hearing the child screaming in the room next to us solidified our decision to go with the anesthesia.

Tubes cut down ear infections by 85%. And when a kid with tubes gets an infection, it's easier to treat with antibiotic ear drops. No longer will Britton have to rely on the broad spectrum antibiotics that she is quickly becoming immune to. We've had her on a probiotic regimen for two weeks now, trying in vain to replace the "good" bacteria in her system that has been wiped out by constant antibiotic use. Her digestion issues have taken well to the probiotics, but we look forward to the day she no longer has to take that gross bubble-gum flavored medicine. By the way - who flavors a medicine "bubble gum" for a 7 month old? She has no frame of reference, people!

One thing the hub and I are looking forward to will be the almost-instant relief Britton will feel with the tubes inserted. She's a naturally happy baby and she very rarely acts sick, even when her ears are killing her. But sometimes, like this afternoon, she melts down from the constant pain and pressure. And we can't wait to see how much happier she is when she no longer has that constant pain.