Hannah’s first surgery

At 21 months old, Hannah is embarking on her first surgery, and I am a major stress case about it.

What type of surgery…EAR TUBES!  Yes, Hannah has had fluid in her ears for many months now, and we have been debating for a few months now whether or not to put tubes in her ears.   Ear tube surgery, the most common surgery for children.  Even Abigail has had 3 tube surgeries without more than two thoughts about it.

Yet, here I am, incredibly worried about this procedure for Hannah.

Why?

Anesthesia. I have had conversations with so many people about this sedation.   I have heard stories from other nGD parents who have had simple procedures yet the anesthesia cause such major complications because of airway issues that one child even ended up in the hospital for a week with a trach.

My ENT is so patient with me.   He even talked to me at home one evening just to discuss our options and make sure there I had a complete understanding of the process.   He is taking so many precautions (like having Hannah spend the night in the hospital for observation after the procedure) and has done so much research on nGD and anesthesia that he has shared with me.  We have agreed to start with IV sedation (which we know Hannah has done well with before during her brain MRI) and mask anesthesia.  I really, really want to try and avoid intubation (tube down the throat).

So the plan is in the works to have this done during the second week of May so that we can have a month here in Texas to recover and deal with any complications that may arise.

I want to give Hannah every opportunity to live a good life.  Draining the fluid from her ears will not only give her the best chance to gain a stronger sense of balance but hopefully get her speech moving forward.