Change in Plans

Ben is feeling much, much better (gotta love antibiotics) and has had a pretty good week at school. He had a follow-up ENT appointment this morning for his nose (I'm still dilating daily and it's still open - YAY) and ears. I knew his ears were still infected and would probably require some deep suctioning under the microscope, so no surprise there.

We talked a little about his upcoming Urology surgery. My initial plan was to limit Ben's anesthesia exposure and have the Urology surgery done at the same time as his routine airway scope. The problem arose when I tried to schedule those together. Because his Urologist is the head of the department, he is scheduling way out. Coordinating with the Laparoscopic Surgeon he wanted to use during this surgery put it even further out. After we found a date they could do, I called too see if our ENT doctor could do that date. Unfortunately, their books didn't schedule out that far and they didn't know the doctor's availability. We had no choice but to keep the date and hope our ENT doctor could do it.

No such luck. The ENT doc isn't in the OR that day. ENT said that they would send out another attending to do Ben's scope. After today's discussion, our ENT decided he doesn't want to do that since Ben's airway is so unique. He really wants to see for himself if it is improved. It isn't fair to have another doc not familiar with Ben make the call to proceed with airway reconstruction. Soooooooooooooo, we are going to have to schedule the ENT scope separately after the urology surgery. Needless to say, I'm disappointed but glad to have the doc that knows Ben the best looking at his airway. If someone is going to make the call to start airway reconstruction, I want it to be him (and I am so hoping that is what he says - we have been waiting over 3 years for a good airway scope).