Well, ears are NEAR the brain. Anyway, Charles has had 7 ear infections in 1 year, and at some point over the last few months, I decided that maybe getting tubes put in his ears would help prevent the seizures - since being sick and overly tired can bring them on. Anyway, during his MRI last month, the neurologist noted a lot of fluid in his mastoid area and recommended we might see an ENT, I said "already done, he's getting tubes next week". She was pleased.
We have Kaiser, so supposedly all drs know what the other is doing and all records are shared. However, when we showed up on Friday the 9th for his tubes, and they did is "just before surgery" questions, all of a sudden the nurses start getting alarmed that he has a seizure disorder. Then, the ENT comes in and says that we might have the postpone his surgery - that's when Mom (I) started going a bit ballistic. Then the Anesthesiologist joined us and said they just didn't have enough information about his seizure disorder to give him the best care, at which time, I then gave them a very LOUD explanation that all this should have been taken care of BEFORE I scheduled it, starved the baby for 12 hours, woke him up early for surgery, drove downtown, had my husband take the day off from work, etc. You see where this is going. They didn't have approval from the neurologist - I said "here's her number, it's on speed dial. CALL HER AND GET IT." I told them "they were the drs, I was just the mom, so do your job and I'll do mine!" As his Mother, I was the only and best advocate he had for his care. After my very IRATE (and eventually tearful, angry) display, they produced (within about 15 minutes) a fax from the neurologist saying it was fine, etc. Then, magically the "other" neurologist (very junior) dissapeared and the "very senior, pediatric specialist" neurologist magically appeared and surgery was BACK ON! yay for mom!
The surgery went well, but Charles had a hard time coming out of the anesthesia - but that's because they didn't have to do the IV kind, so it takes a little longer. He was CRABBY coming out. When I left, I apolpgized (but not very sincerely) for the drama I had caused, and the lead nurse on staff (while walking me out) said "don't worry, it got the job done didn't it?!" I was proud of my results, Charles got his tubes, he hasn't been sick since and no seizures since...so time will tell, but I think we're headed in a good path.
Next month (April 5th) he has his quarterly neurology visit and April 6th, a post op appointment with the poor ENT I attacked. I'll let you know how it goes. :-)
PHOTOS:
Charles started by rearranging ALL the chairs in the lobby.
He had the kindle fire to entertainment, but since we had quite the delay, we got a wagon and paced the hallways of the pre-op area - he was much more patient than his mother
On the car ride home he was screamin' mad (post anesthesia) for about 25 minutes, then as you can see 1 minute before we got home he passed out drooling...he woke up to a peanut butter sandwhich grandma made him which cheered him up
The nurses put an allergy sticker on his ankle, but he was smart enough to pull it off within seconds.
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