Eyes, ears mouth and nose!

Isabelle has had more ear infections in her short four years than we can count! The trouble all began on her very first Thanksgiving and after months of antibiotics and sleepless nights, she had her first set of ear-tubes placed into both ears by the wonderful Dr. Charles Biediger! The ear infections didn't end there, but they were different. Her ears drained constantly and we treated them with antibiotics in her ears rather than orally and we were all much happier! Isabelle wore plugs in her ears to bathe or swim from the time she could remember and visiting Dr. Biediger every few months was just a way of life.

Fast forward a few years and about 9 months post ear tube removal and once again we were plagued with sleepless nights and little Isabelle's head warm with fever, time and time again. Dr. Biediger didn't wait long this time around after knowing her history and scheduled her for yet another set of ear tubes and an adenoidectomy (removal of her adenoids) at the same time.

The surgery date was scheduled for the first day of November and Isabelle knew the plan from the get-go. She was so brave and never once questioned the need or said she was too afraid. In fact, the morning of the surgery when Ben and I woke our sweet girl up way too early and made the trek to the hospital, we were caught off guard when Isabelle said in the car How in the world is Dr. Biediger going to fit his whole hand down my throat to get my adenoid out? She was obviously aware of what was just moments from happening and was still ready to go! When we arrived at the hospital we were quickly met by Isabelle's surgery nurse and the anesthesiologist and after they gave Jelly a "cocktail" Dr. Biediger found us and offered to carry Isabelle back to the surgery table himself.

The surgery took longer than I thought and the 90 minutes I waited seemed like too long but we were so confident in our doctor that we knew everything was going as planned. (Ben spent the whole wait time on a conference call with NYC making deals and talking money...obviously Isabelle gets her nerves from him!) I was glad when Dr. Biediger poked his head out into the waiting room and asked us to follow him back to find Jelly in recovery. The staff had prepped us already warning us that children coming off serious drugs are often quite challenging but seeing our little girl laying there and crying and moaning but not yet awake was tough. She had a difficult time coming off of the anesthesia and couldn't keep anything down long after we left the hospital but continued to be in good spirits and smiled for the camera even when she wasn't sure who we were or what we were doing. Once Isabelle had slept the drugs off and could keep a little something in her tummy she made a speedy recovery. She missed a week of school taking it easy and couldn't drink from a straw for a while but the benefits greatly outweighed the costs.

So now we are back to ear plugs for the bath and wiping her ears rather than her nose, but wow, what a difference it makes to Jelly's life! Thank goodness for medical technology and for wonderful doctors! We've gotten to know Dr. Biediger so well over the last few years and think so much of him, he's actually on our Christmas card list! Here's to a new set of ear tubes and hopes that Isabelle's eustachian tubes grow before the tubes are ready to come out again!