(no subject)

Took Zoe to the ENT today. I was right about the wierdness of her ear infection. You know, I really, REALLY wish I had been clued into more natural remedies when Zoe was littler. I truly believe that we could have avoided the tubes in her ears entirely. The tubes are what is CAUSING the problem this time. One tube has already come out and everything looks fine. The other ear has a "tube infection." Here is how the ENT explained it. The eardrum is kind of like the cheek, a membrane that is wet on the inside and dry on the outside. What happed to Zoe's tube is that, when the eardrum heals and starts to push the tube out something goes kind of wacky and the the inside, wet stuff, grows through the tube and is exposed to the outside air. Obviously, it is not supposed to do that so it will continue to get infected over and over until the tube is removed and the whole can heal properly. It won't be able to pop that tube out on its own. He said that right now it is covered with pus pockets. The antibiotics she was on will control the infections, until she goes off and then it will just flare up again. This ENT says this is really, really unusual (of course) and he's only seen this one other time. But fixing it involves general anasthesia, removing the tube, and possible taking a tiny piece of fat from behind her ear and plugging the hole.

I'm so sad and frustrated. Her ear has to be kept "absolutely, completely dry" according to the ENT from until a month or maybe two after the surgery which will be next Mondy. We have to plug her ear for baths even. So no more Sea World and the trip to Lake of the Ozarks in three weeks for a week with the inlaws is going to be a nightmare. Convincing Zoe to stay out of the water is going to be so hard. ARG! I'm going to have to put the wading pool away too since she lays down in it, and I don't trust myself to keep her from doing that. I really hope this is the end of the ear issues. The ENT did say that sometimes this doesn't heal well and they have to go in again and patch it up. What a joke! Do these people actually know what they are doing? I'm beginning to think not.