Our journey with Grayson’s ear infections has been very eye-opening for us as a family. Hayden and I had never suffered from ear infections as children, so both of us, as well as our parents, had no idea how to deal with this. We were so unfamiliar with ear infections that we did not even recognize most of Grayson’s symptoms as they popped up. Although to be fair the most notable symptom is loss of balance… well he’s 1 and new to walking so he’s always a little wobbly. The other main sign of an infection is muffled hearing. Hmm a baby who doesn’t listen to his mom? How shocking. Unfortunately for Grayson, we could not distinguish between completely normal toddler behavior and these ridiculous symptoms. How are you supposed to know the difference?!

Grayson’s ear infections were first diagnosed in November after he was sent home from daycare with a low-grade fever. Due to the severity of the infections, the pediatrician recommended antibiotics right away instead of taking the “wait and see” approach. At our follow up appointment both ears were still horribly infected, so on to the second type of antibiotics we went. After 4 failed rounds of oral antibiotics, 2 rounds of injected antibiotics (2 shots each day for 3 days back to back), a fifth oral antibiotic, 4 urgent care visits, 15 trips to our pediatrician’s office, and 4 months with not even a single improvement from any of those efforts, we were finally referred to a pediatric ENT. After reviewing our history, the doctor immediately wanted to schedule us for surgery.

Life works in funny ways. The one and only day they had availability for Grayson’s surgery was the same day we had booked our flight to see Hayden graduate from basic training in South Carolina. So now I have to choose—sending Grayson into surgery to improve his hearing, speech, comfort, and overall happiness OR take him to see his father who he has not had any contact with in 12 weeks and who he would not see for an additional 12 weeks after. I obviously opted for us to visit Hayden and postpone the operation a few weeks.

Unfortunately, a few days before we were set to leave I got a phone call from his daycare that he had a fever of 101 and I needed to come pick him up. When I showed up to get him, his fever had spiked to 105 and he was surrounded by teachers trying to cool his body down. I had to rush him to the emergency room where he was given more medication, fluids, and had tons of tests run on him. Ultimately they decided that he had picked up some kind of viral infection on top of the ear infections. They also evaluated his ears and said that his eardrums were at risk of rupturing on the plane. I mean come on… give us a break here!

Well, he survived the flights with no ruptures and was basically more medicine than baby when we were in South Carolina. Oral antibiotics twice a day, antihistamine twice a day, eye drops 3 times a day, alternating Tylenol and Motrin if his fever spiked. This poor boy was so over it!

When the big day finally came Grayson was so brave. His surgery was scheduled for 9:45am which meant no food after 7pm the night before. No milk after 3am. No water after 7am, which is before he generally wakes up anyway. I was so worried about Grayson not being able to eat for so long. I mean it is his favorite activity after all! I did not want him to get dehydrated or HANGRY (which, like mama, he is very prone to doing) and not being able to explain what was happening made everything so much harder! I did, however, decide to wake him up at 2am to breastfeed him to help keep him even slightly more comfortable the following morning.

After arriving at the hospital we still had to wait another 2 hours before he was taken back to the OR. Trying to entertain a hungry, dehydrated, bored, tired toddler who keeps pulling down your shirt begging for milk in front of nurses and other parents, is not an easy task! And apparently one I did not do well as Grayson was crying and aggressively trying to destroy our hospital room. Thankfully he was taken back without struggle and the operation took less than 15 minutes. He was technically in recovery coming off of the anesthesia for longer than he was in the surgery. The nurses took such great care of him and he even got a post-op popsicle! No tears after waking up and this boy did not let the drugs keep him down. As soon as we got home, this crazy kid was a ball of energy and already back to his old self. Full appetite (of course) and even skipped his nap.

This first week after the surgery and we can already see such an improvement in Grayson’s demeanor. He is listening better, able to pronounce more words and run through the house with no wobbles. He seems so much more comfortable and is noticeably happier! The decision to put your 1-year old through a fully anesthetized surgery is never going to be an easier one. Even up until they took him away I was still questioning if it was the right decision, but seeing this huge improvement in such a short amount of time solidified that this was the right decision for us!