Minor Proceedure: Major Stress (for the parents)

Young Norris' is back from surgery, having had grommetts inserted into both ears and all the "glue" that prevented him from hearing, sucked out. At the last minute the removal of his adenoids was cancelled, on the grounds that his last head cold had cleared OK, and that they probably weren't blocking the eustachian tube (please amend spelling if required).

The surgeon gave us three options, (i) do nothing and hope its OK, (ii) just do grommetts and not adenoidectomy (iii) do both grommett insertion and adenoidectomy. He said it was a matter of personal choice not medical science because, which you will have recommended, depends on which doctor you speak to. So the decision lands with the parents.

Fortunately the wife is a doctor herself and was able to enable us to make an informed choice. She recommended option two, to which I readily agreed. In fact she was proved to be absolutely right as (a) there was a lot of "glue" still in the ear, which would only have got worse as the winter cold season set in and (b) examination while under general anaesthetic showed that the adenoids are now not swollen too badly.

The staff at Ninewells Hospital at the children's suregery department were absolutely brilliant, and prepared and helped young Norris through every step of the proceedure. They were so good that he wan't remotely stressed or bothered about the whole thing. Unlike myself of course! I will never forget the wee-man's face as the anaesthetic reached his brain, a twitch of surprised recognition that something was afoot, and then his eyes closed and his head rolled.

I'll get over it eventually!