Today I made a trip into town that I’ve been doing for over 6 years…a trip to the Terrace to see my kid’s Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist! Dr Bell-Allen has been such a wonderful man to my three children who have suffered chronic middle ear infections since they were 6 months old. Between the three of them they have undergone 7 surgeries, which have involved the insertion of grommets and each have had their adenoids out! It’s been a very loooong road! Last year I wrote a blog about this road called When Will This Road End? and after today’s appointment I’d love to be optimistic and say it could be now!

Today’s appointment was do or die for Bailey and Mia. If their ears hadn’t improved since February, they were both back in for surgery! I’m always nervous driving to the specialist wondering what he’s going to tell me this time! But today I didn’t feel anything other than calm. Call it mother’s instinct, but I was pretty confident that we’d get a good response today and that we did! Bay’s ears have finally drained and don’t retain anymore fluid, so his hearing is great, which I thought and Mia’s ears looked fantastic and the best he has seen them yet! I was so thrilled and so was Dr Dave (as the kids call him)!

So where to from here? We don’t officially have another appointment unless something happens from here on in. This has happened before and I even hugged my specialist and said goodbye and thanked him for all of his help and support in getting the kids fixed up and before I knew it I was back sitting in his office!!! So today there were no hugs, there were no good byes, just a simple thank you and until we meet again!

It’s the first time in many years that none of my children haven’t had grommets. Which means no ear plugs!!! It’s so nice to be able to swim without worrying their ear plugs will fall out and although you don’t take your eyes off kids when they are swimming anyway, you have to be even more vigilant when they have grommets and need to wear ear plugs!

This road that we’ve lived and travelled to get to this point has been hard, frustrating and emotional, but it’s made me a better parent. It’s made me become aware of the ins and outs of my children’s health which so many times has been helpful in detecting an early ear infection, which in turn has prevented perforations. It’s also made me feel very blessed and grateful that although dealing with this has been annoying, it’s certainly not the worst thing my kids could be put through. I see what other parents have to face and know that once again we are the lucky ones.

But one thing I have learnt is to really know and understand your child’s health. Don’t leave it a day to see your doctor. If you think there isn’t something right go and get it checked out. Early detection is the key for anything not getting to a serious point. Many people palm ear infections off as not much, but recurring could cause a lot of problems down the track with hearing and speech development. I strongly urge any parent out there who thinks their child may not be hearing properly to get it checked out. We are our children’s advocates and while they are little their voices, so it is up to us as parents to follow through with our instincts!

For now I live in hope and pray that my babies are on the road to good ear health, cause they sure have been put through the ringer with this one! I am optimistic that this could be the end of the road, but like anything when it comes to children, you always have to keep an open mind…I always expect the unexpected!

Love seeing my babies happy and content:)