Answer to Prayers

So this month, Nathan has seen a few doctors, and it's been a little while since he has. He first saw his pediatrician, and he noticed that Nathan's ear tubes were no longer in place, and that there was a little fluid building in one ear. I wasn't that concerned because he seems to be hearing and speaking fine, and even hoped that he wouldn't need any more ear tubes at this point, since he's already had two placed.

Then two days later, he had a hearing test, and again, the audiologist noticed fluid. Again, I didn't seem concerned, until she took us to the little hearing test room with the big speakers that light up. Nathan sat on my lap and as he heard the sounds and saw the lights, he would turn from side to side like he always does. But then she lowered the volume, and I sat there as my little boy wouldn't even flinch while the lower sounds were played over the speakers, and I could hear them clear as day. Throughout the remainder of the test, he would not turn for those sounds, and I knew we weren't done with ear tubes just yet. The audiologist confirmed that he did not pass his test. I told her we were meeting with his ENT (ear, nose, throat) doctor the next week, so she was happy to hear that.

So this past Wednesday, I returned to the same medical office, this time for the ENT. I waited 90 minutes before I was finally seen by the doctor, which is not easy to do with Nathan who is a mile a minute kid, getting into everything around him. She took one look in his ears and knew he would need more tubes placed. I asked why his tubes keep coming out; after all, he just had some placed in April. She couldn't explain it, but only tell me that all kids have different outcomes with tubes, and that this time, she would be putting in "sturdier" tubes called T-tubes to see if they would hold up longer.

The other concern had to do with Nathan's health insurance, which will expire at the end of December. The new insurance for January is going to have much higher copays, not to mention a wait for all the referrals and authorizations to go through, so we had been praying that there would be a chance that Nathan could have his ear tube surgery before the end of December. I asked her if that was possible, and she told me to talk with the surgery scheduler before I left.

So I went back out into the waiting room for a bit, and by this time I had been at this place for almost 2 1/2 hours! Nathan was worn out and fussy. I got called back in, and asked if we could schedule the surgery for the 30th, and she said yes, but that I would still need to see the anesthesiologist before the surgery. So she looked for an appointment for the pre-anesthesia, and it turned out they had an opening the same day at 1:15, just down the road. I took it, glad that I wouldn't have to try squeezing in an appointment right before Christmas. So Nathan and I went to get some lunch, he took a nap, and we headed in to our second appointment of the day. By this time, Nathan was super cranky. There are a number of steps you have to go through at this appointment, so it was another long one. But we got through it, just in time to get home to pick up the kids from school. Talk about a long day with a toddler.

But our prayers were answered, and we now get to avoid a large copay. Nathan's health issues sure keep us busy, and me very tired, but I am so blessed to have great doctors relatively close by that can help with his different needs.