Wednesday, August 17, 2011

What did you say? Huh?

What Did You Say? Huh?
That is exactly what I said to my DD’s Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist (ENT) when he told me that she needed to have tubes placed in her ears, and have her tonsils and adenoids out. As some of you remember a few months ago I wrote about how I decided not to be a wallflower and pass up her forever lingering cough in the evening (bedtime/naptime) as allergies. 

We went to see an ENT and he performed a whole work up and scheduled another appointment to come and see him in a month to go over his findings. I knew before we left his office that he would be more than likely placing tubes in her ears since she was hearing at a 45 (meaning she had 45% hearing out of 100%). We also left knowing it was more than likely that her Eustachian tubes were being blocked by her adenoids and that they would be removed. When I heard him say that the tonsils were coming out too I did worry a bit. I had been doing some research and realized that the tonsils were very beneficial in helping to protect from infection and bacteria. Once I spoke more with her doctor he assured me that while that is true in young infants, that a child at her age (who also is in daycare and building immunity there) has built up her immunity and to not worry as much. He mentioned how her tonsils were “a tad” large and that they were a bit inflamed, so removing them would benefit her. Her doctor also mentioned that he could leave them in but that he would feel pretty awful in a few years time if we were right back where we were right then and there discussing moving her tonsils because we didn’t remove them when she was three.

The swolen tonsils of Daniel Morris.
Photo Credit: Daniel Morris

The Human Ear
Photo Credit: mitopencourseware
If I didn’t think the blow of finding out my little angel would need surgery was enough, what came next nearly knocked me off my feet. At her initial appointment we had at her ENT we tested her hearing but I was only informed she was hearing at 45%. I had no clue other than the numbers what that meant. While yes I could assume everything sounded like she was under water.  I could bring myself back to when I was a child and would try to have conversations underwater in our family pool with my sister. I never took it much past that. When the audiologist placed the ear phones on my ears and spoke to me at the level my daughter was hearing everything, I choked back tears right there in the sound booth. I luckily was able to hold back the tears till after I dropped her off at daycare and headed to work. I knew right then and there the pain of watching her go through the pain of surgery would be NOTHING compared to the pain she would go through if she couldn’t hear ALL that this world has to offer her.

The planning quickly began and the next few weeks went by so quickly with planning and preparatory appointments to get everything into place for her surgery. Note to all who are about to go through this same surgery with their little ones or take them in general to give blood, watch how tightly you hold your child’s arm. Yes, due to yours truly, my daughter had to be stuck twice with a needle. I held her arm so tight the first go of it that I cut off the circulation and they needed to move to her other arm to get the blood they needed. Another note, Rita’s appears to erase that error if you so do make it as well. Other than the blood draw appointment, all other appointments leading up to the surgery went well. Before we knew it, it was surgery day and thanks to “Curious George Goes To The Hospital,” and many discussions, my daughter was as prepared as we could get her for the surgery. 

 

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