He can hear!

After Noah's bout of chicken pox in August 2012, he had a very mild ear infection (no antibiotics needed but ears were a bit red) and along with the infection came some liquid in his middle ear. The pediatrician told us that in general it drains on its own and to come back and see him in a few months. 

A few months later, the liquid was still there and we went to see a ENT specialist. The specialist concurred that it should get better and told us to wait a little more. During that time, Noah's hearing would go from ok to terrible when he had the sniffles. He could not hear us when we called his name normally or hear me yelling from one room to the other (and our apartment is not THAT big). He seemed to be compensating well, however, and the liquid was supposed to drain... Finally, after a few more months of waiting, the ENT said we had to insert tubes in his ears to drain the liquid and possibly remove the adenoids and tonsils. To make sure, we saw a second specialist at the Singapore Children's hospital. He did a hearing test and found that Noah's hearing was pretty bad (even when we thought it was decent) and he confirmed the need to insert the tubes and possibly remove the adenoids if they were very enlarged (because otherwise the liquid problem would happen again). 

We scheduled the operation for February 26 at the children's hospital. However, on February 25, mango/maya made her surprise entrance so we had to cancel the operation. We rescheduled for March 25. We arrived at the hospital Maya and Eleonor (our "helper" in tow) but that morning Noah developed a mild phlegmy cough and the doctors thought it more prudent not to operate just then. We rescheduled for April 30. On April 30, Noah was cough free thankfully. Here he is changing into his "dress" as he called it. Our happy little boy, excited to be able to hear well again. 

I accompanied Noah to the hospital and Seth stayed with Maya at home (with lots of bottles of milk).  I held him while he was put to sleep - he did great. Leaving him there on the operating table asleep, drooling and vulnerable in his little dress was humbling and scary. We hoped that his adenoids would be small and that he would not need them removed and could go home after his operation. I left shaken but went straight to the bathroom to pump milk a bit behind Maya's normal schedule. Of course, in the middle, they called me to let me know that the operation went well and that they had to do the adenoids. He was asleep and should be awake in 30mn. I went back to my pumping and they called again - you need to go down and pay and deal with the admission as an inpatient. That involved queues and the card not going through on the first try because of the high amount to be paid and of course, as I was in the middle of that, they called to say that Noah had woken up. After much arguing, they let me go up to see him before finalizing the  payment and settling the admission (a rare thing in Singapore where they are sticklers for such things). I found my little boy - brave, awake and cogent but a shadow of himself. Such a strange state - we read some books and I almost got him to smile a few times and then we took some pictures... me of him.

And him of me (nice outfit - it was freezing in there so I had my warm scarf around my neck!)

After a while, we were rolled to Noah's room where his cage was all set up. He was given a "bravery award" which he was quite proud of (see below).

My little boy in his cage

I explained to the nurses that at home he has an adult bed and that really he does not need to be in a cage - after a bit of arguing (usually they are caged till age 4), we got a new bed - pheww.  Also, little by little, my little boy was becoming himself again - starting to smile and joke.

Ice cream number 1 (all he could eat was ice cream for the first few hours)- the smile is coming back.

Working on a lego project

View from the room - lots of greenery

Ice cream number 2!

He built a police car...

dinner time... more ice cream, some juice and some clear soup (you can see the room was kid friendly which was very nice)

Seth came over for the night and I went back home to be with Maya. The boys arrived home late next morning - Noah was his usual self (except for a nasal wheez) but the doc wanted him to stay inside and not see his friends for a few days to avoid catching anything... Below, Noah playing at home with the present he received from our neighbors (thanks Celine and Co.).

So much relief that this is all behind us and went well. The experience definitely made us realize how lucky we have been that he has been healthy so far and how hard and scary life would be if he got seriously ill. You do what you have to do but man is it nice when you don't have to do deal with such things. 

We only realized how bad his hearing was when he started saying things like - "the cars make noise"? "you can hear the cars from your room?" And he could hear us when we talked to him and called him from one room to the other in a normal voice - we had also compensated talking louder and going into his room to talk to him rather than calling out. So far, he is excited to hear well again and is doing wonderfully. So glad this chapter is behind us and all seems fine.