The ENT & Me

My little man, Kendall, and I took a trip to the CHOP offices in Chalfont yesterday to get a better inspection of Ethan's ears. E is a chronic ear infection sufferer and thus has become an antibiotic junkie, so much so that they are losing the effect they once had at lets say, 2 months old. At our last appointment for him and his ears the doctor finally flagged him and said, this kid needs tubes, the grand total is in, and in his 17 months of life, Ethan has had 11 documented ear infections. That is just being seen by the doctor, since the antibiotics have lost their effectiveness on him, there are times I know he has one but do not take him unless he has a high fever and/or his sleep is interrupted bc there is no point putting him through the nastiness that is augmentin unless I need to. And then once on the antibiotic we usually have a good month until it is gone, with 20 days on two different antibiotics. A clear candidate, don't you agree?

So off we went. Now some might cringe at the thought of taking two young toddlers to a doctors office for what is sure to be an extended period of time. However, these are my kids. I am not bragging or saying my kids do not ever act out in public settings, but the doctors is a sure bet that they will behave. Simply because they themselves think that they are doctors. I have mentioned this before with Kendall, but now it has gone on to Ethan, so much so that Santa will be bringing him his very own doctor's kit this Christmas because one stethoscope to share just isn't cool. Everything that could be deemed an eligible patient in this house has been evaluated by each of them at least 20 times. So being in the presence of another doctor is for them, being amongst colleagues. As the doctor was showing me charts of the procedure that was to be performed, they too were right next to me peering over the edge of the book. So you might think, well they are surely going to be doctors, well perhaps, but there is also a good chance they will just be like their mother and just obsess over the shows on Discovery Health.

We saw the nurse practitioner, went over his medical history, raced to get weighed and measured, and then went back into the lobby to wait. We then saw the audiologist who gave us all a hearing test. It really was just for Ethan, but the three of us got to go into the booth and watch the show that tests a small child's hearing. Kendall thought we were in a theater, she asked me when the movie was going to start, which is odd bc she has never been to a movie theater. Regardless, Ethan passed with perfect hearing. Back to the lobby. We then saw the ENT, Ethan was evaluated thoroughly, clear ears at that moment, figures, but he had also just ended a dose of antibiotics. Then one last time back to the lobby to wait for them to review E's chart and either call us back or send us on our way. They came out, we were called back like with thought we would be, and met with the surgeon who confirmed that Ethan would for sure be getting tubes in his ears. 2 1/2 hours later we walked out the door, and some might say, oh the kids must have been relieved to get out of there, but I turned to Kendall and asked, 'ready to go?', and she replies, 'ok, lets go to another doctor's house.'

Ethan's surgery will be on Monday September 8th, and no Kendall will not be scrubbing in, even though she would love it.