Anne and Her Ears

In the spring, every once in a while, Anne would wake up in the morning feeling nauseous and weak. She'd sit cuddle on the couch, fall back sleep, and be altogether not at all her spunky self. Usually by noon she'd perk up and would be better for the rest of the day and a few days to follow until the cycle repeated itself. This happened 3 or 4 times through April and May. At the end of May I took her to a new ENT, as I was unhappy with her regular one and his non-chalance about what was going on. He just kept telling us her ears looked good and he'd see us again in a few months. One of her tubes had come out on it's own, and the other one was about halfway out. The new ENT was surprised it was still in nearly 3 years later. He removed it the rest of the way and sent us on our way. The resulting "wound" in her eardrum continued to throw her off a bit until it had fully healed. These pictures were from a morning not long after the tube had been pulled out. It is amazing what our ears do for us, besides just allowing us to hear.

 Since then she has been SO much better. No nausea. No sensory processing disorder type behaviour. More cooperative. I mean, she is still Anne. She is still spunky. She is still defiant at times. She is still stubborn. But she doesn't seem like she's fighting just to control herself, if that makes sense. It probably doesn't make sense to anybody else, but it does to me. When the tubes were in correctly, they were wonderful. She had such bad ear infections as a baby that she developed "glue ear". Her ears just wouldn't clear up on their own for more than a day or two at at time. However, once they started to come out they started to cause her troubles with her equilibrium and began to affect her behavior. I wanted to record this so I will remember these symptoms and the results of getting those tubes out.  I want to remember because I want to share with other moms who may be experiencing the same helplessness I felt. I am such a fan of the medical community and the power of modern medicine, but when a doctor sees a patient for a few minutes every few months they just can't understand what a mother is seeing every single day. I knew something was going on beyond just Anne having a difficult personality. I am so grateful that the "cure" ended up being a relatively simple one.