Stick it in Your Ear

Our regularly scheduled ENT appointment was to see if the boy could get off the Prevaid. But we asked first if he could check the ears after such a long spells of infections. He took quick looks and said that, within the next two weeks, he's gonna have another infection because his ears are full of "reduction sauce of ear snot."

He's getting tubes. The doctor explained the procedure and sought to comfort us with talk of procedure length and recovery, but we're not rattled. The regular doctors prepared us for this possibility, and we recounted the infection history and anecdotal tube stories from other parents.

We noted the multiple comments of potential verbal progression once the tubes are in, and the ENT said flatly that he and we will not believe how much better he will hear once this is done. I mentioned he can already differentiate between a truck and a train, and the ENT shook his head. That's nothing, he said. He will even cover his ears from the increased din in those fully operational ears.

We make the appointment next week for an Asheville surgery, and the ENT said that we'd do the procedure even if he came down with an infection. Needs doing. Also that will be when he will check the heartburn and tell us if the sidekick can get off Prevacid.

The ENT said he gives this spiel on ears and surgery and anesthetic and tubes twice a day. There's a 1/50 chance his eardrum could be punctured and a 50/50 chance he'll need a follow-up procedure in five years.

Picture of the Day
The Most Great ENT, Dr. Loveotron-san.

Tis the Season

Your Sister is in cleanup mode as the semester ends. It's exam week. She either watches other classes take their exams or remediates her own students as they try to squeeze past the failure threshold. Her days run just as long as when classes ran normally, and she has just as much homework to get all the grading done.
I am sketching. The podcast that inspired 80TEAM80 asked me to provide some zombie art for a new project, and it took a turn. The art went in a direction I didn't expect, and I find myself drawing the image repeatedly in a nerdy rush. Details later. I also started a second round of thumbnails for the comic and the obligatory script tweaks. This threatens to be an epic story of desperate robots.

Still no sign of my shirts at the store. I was again told my liaison was sick. I am now convinced this store is run in second gear.

Have a Merry Christmas on those beaches. Toast the season with pineapple drinks.We are not putting up a tree this year as the sidekick will only tackle it. Every five minutes.

Picture of the Day
Behold the Cthulhu Tree, the encapsulation of HP Lovecraft's dark mythos and yuletide cheer.

 

Bonus Moving Picture of the Day

Know you of this? Maybe we can set up a movie date for next year. I remember we three watched Two Towers on a snowy afternoon. And then we tussled at pinball.