Otoplasty-part I

We’ve been planning for some time to get Ainsley’s otoplasty done (outer ear reshaping). We had some barriers-insurance denied it originally.  Ainsley’s ENT plastic surgeon had a special conference with a doctor from the insurance company to plead her case and thankfully they approved it!! The second barrier was getting A’s ear drum repair done first, that was completed in November. I’m going to share several details because I could find very little on line about this procedure for kids A’s age (7), so maybe this will help other families.

This decision was not one that we took lightly. A big factor for us was A’s hearing aids would often times flip over her ears. This surgery will keep them snug by her ears for years to come. 

Due to Ainsley’s unknown muscle disorder she needs to be put to sleep via iv sedation and to have a breathing tube during surgery. Her pre-op prep is a little different because of that.  Her surgery time was 12 noon, so she could have apple juice or water before 8 am but no food after midnight.

We left the house at 6:30 am and drove to Dallas. Ains drank her apple juice in the car and I set an alarm at 7:55 am so we would know when to stop the apple juice.  We checked in at 10 am to the hospital and A was a little nervous. We stopped to look at the trains and the gift shop. 

Ains got this fun hat! That made her day! 

Children’s in Dallas is amazing! Ains played in the lobby before they got her settled in her room!

Wrestling with her daddy one last time before surgery:)!

Checked in and changed!



Ains got to pick a movie to watch! They gave her some calming meds (liquid) before starting the iv. The anesthesia doc was amazing-she said, we will try once to get the iv going and if she is stressed we will stop and do it in the or. She didn’t want Ains to have a bad memory of this procedure. 

We had such a peace about the surgery. The team caring for Ainsley was incredible, that gave us lots of comfort!

Starting to monitor vitals!



IV I’m on the first time! Ains gets scared, but she pushed through and got it done!


Ains was in surgery for about 2 hours. The surgeon met with us after and updated us that all went well. 30 minuets later we saw Ainsley. She was really tired, but not in pain. Her BP was very low, but over the 2 hours in recovery it kept rebounding.

Due to her sedation, the protocol is to monitor her for 2 hours in recovery so that was so helpful to make sure she was comfortable before taking her home.

Ains ate popsicles and apple juice and we were back on the road home by 5 pm!



Ains wanted to stop and eat at Cracker Barrel-she was SO hungry! She ate a good dinner and then we got A home around 8:30 pm and got her meds going (pain meds and antibiotic) and she had a good nights sleep! More on her recovery next time!