Ronin's Ear Surgery

Very bright and early this morning, I took Ronin to the hospital for surgery on his ears.  Jed and I have long anticipated this day for the last year or two when we began to realize Ronin couldn't hear very well.  It was surprisingly hard to find a doctor that would actually search for the root of the problem and get a hearing test done.  In the beginning, most of the doctors we took Ronin to would simply blame it on his mutiple ear infections while others just wouldn't see children with hearing problems or give him a hearing test when we asked for one.  

But we finally found a wonderful doctor who took the matter seriously and after a few tests, we found out that Ronin has mild hearing loss in one ear and moderate loss in the other.  The doctor explained that hearing for Ronin is like having him underneath the water at the swimming pool and hearing people talking outside of the pool.  Sounds were being drowned out in a distorted, muted kind of way.

The nurses were great with Ronin, he got to pick out a teddy bear, which he of course chose a green one.  He already had a name for it....wanna guess what it was?  (It's very thought provoking - "Green Bear" is the answer.)

This guy here I actually knew, his name is Mike. 

Mike and I worked together in the hospital's kitchen as teenagers.  It was so nice to see him after all these years.  We had some really fun times in that kitchen...water fights, food fights, lots of joking around, and other things that we probably shouldn't have been doing (we always got our work done though.)  But man, we had some serious fun!  Great times, I tell ya. 

The nurses told us to bring a few things from home...so Ronin brought Jed's army blanket and some of his favorite stuffed animals.

Showing off his cool hospital outfit.  These are pretty cool compared to the back-exposing gowns I had to wear whenever I was in the hospital.

Don't forget the stuffed animals, mom, they're important too.

Just waiting now.

and waiting some more.

It's time!

Ronin's surgery consisted of inserting tubes in his ears to help the stubborn fluid build-up to start draining, which was the cause of his the hearing loss.

Can't forget to mention the awesome cap he got to wear....

When Ronin began to feel the effects of the "relaxation" medication he was full of punch-drunk silliness! 

Wow, if this is anything like what Ronin would really be like if he was actually intoxicated, it would be a pretty darn entertaining.  He liked the feeling of being dizzy and was slurring his words and saying some funny stuff.

The surgery went quickly and Ronin did very well recuperating from the medications as it wore off.

Ronin couldn't quite understand how the surgery had already been done because he didn't remember anything....I told him that was a good thing.

Rigdon did a good job providing some company for Ronin.

Of course Rigdon kept pretty busy exploring everything else that was in the room.

Almost time to go home...just checking Ronin's vitals once more.

I spoke with the doctor after the surgery and he said that Ronin's ears were chuck full of very thick fluid...also known as "glue ear."  The liquid had hardened to the point that it couldn't drain on it's own and so they had to gently suction it out.  So it was a very good thing to have the surgery done.

I think Ronin agrees:

The morning ended on a high note - the boys got to have a wagon ride through the hospital halls, back to the car.

I guess one of the things I am most looking forward to is not having to yell at Ronin anymore in order for him to hear me.  There was so much frustration between Ronin and Jed and I for such a long period of time because we would get after him for not doing what we asked him to do, having no idea that he just simply couldn't hear us.  Things should improve drastically after this surgery...hallelujah!