Tonsillectomy, Adenoidectomy, & BMT

That is what sweet little Sophie is going to have done March 23. Poor baby.

We had our appointment with the ENT today. Sophie was less than cooperative, but that's another nightmare - I mean - story. The dr. listened to what I had to say about the snoring and my description of her breathing. Then he asked a ton of questions about hearing loss in my family. He examined her ears, throat, and then felt her glands. Then he sent us for a hearing test.

From here on out, don't quote me. I was trying my best to pay attention and listen to the dr. but Sophie was not making it easy. Sophie had a lot of fluid in both ears, the left was most concerning (I think). He said that she didn't have an infection in the ears so antibiotics were not needed, but there was a lot of fluid just hanging around in there that hasn't drained. He explained to me that what happens is if the fluid from the previous ear infection doesn't drain it builds up and when a new bacteria, virus, etc. enters the body it can infect the fluid in the ears and wa-la a new ear infection occurs. The cycle is on repeat if the ears don't drain. As a result of so much fluid, Sophie actually failed her hearing test in both ears. Apparently the left ear was so bad she really couldn't hear anything. Her right ear came close to passing, but close isn't enough and she failed in that ear too. I was shocked to hear this. I can whisper the word "candy" in my bedroom and she'll come zooming downt he stairs in a matter of seconds asking where the candy is. No lie! lol I felt horrible that she failed that test, I can't imagine going around on a daily basis with muffled hearing and not realizing the difference or realizing that could be fixed. I ask her and she never says anything about her ears hurting or that she can't hear. This made me very sad.

In Sophie's case, the infections can occur even faster because of her tonsils and adenoids. Sophie's tonsils are very large at 3.5 on scale of 1 - 5 with 5 being the worst. It's very likely that her adenoids are just as large if not larger and when they get infected the infection pushes up through the ear canal into the ears and an ear infection occurs. The size of her tonsils and adenoids are directly related to her poor sleeping, snoring, and possibly her recent attitude that needs to get changed -- yet again another story, sorry.

Dr. Hermann believes that Sophie has sleep apnea as a result of her tonsils and adenoids being so large. He asked me to explain the snoring and breathing patterns. Sophie's snoring can only be explained as sounding like a 300 lb man in a super deep sleep. I'm not kidding nor am I exaggerating. You can ask anyone who has witnessed her sleeping. One time we were at Tara's and Billy, a friend of the family and probably 40 years old, decided to go to bed early and fell asleep on the couch. Sophie and Justin were playing in the family room, but decided they were going to sleep too. Sophie hopped on the couch and Justin slept on the floor. Billy said he heard snoring and couldn't figure out who it was and then realized that sound was coming out of a 32 lb 3 year old little girl. He was astonished. Seriously! He tells the story and I can't stop laughing because it's so funny!! I think he had to find a room to sleep in because she was keeping him up! Anyway, while she is sleeping she does this weird breathing thing where she sounds like she is trying to catch her breath. Like she is trying to breathe through her nose but can't because it's too congested so she pauses and starts breathing through her mouth. I think that is sleep apnea. I have to do some more research on the specifics of sleep apnea, but from what I have previously read I know it can cause the child not to get enough deep REM sleep.

Dr. Hermann actually confirmed this and pretty much said that Sophie probably isn't getting enough of the right kind of sleep, which would cause her to be restless and irritable (she's not listening at school - but maybe she can't hear!), cranky, tired, and unable to focus later in the day. That sucks. I feel so sorry for Sophie. I'm just so glad I finally brought her in. Who knew that snoring could be an underlying problem for so many things?

Dr. Hermann gave us 3 options:

1. Try a nose spray like flonase. This has a success rate of 10% - 15%. I think it can help with the flaring up in the nose/throat, etc and help the passage way open so she can breathe better.

2. In conjunction with #1, we would move on to a sleep trial where they would watch Sophie sleep, record her apnea, and then move on from there. I failed to ask what the treatment for this is if we don't do #3. I think the answer is if the apnea is bad enough we would move to #3 anyway.

3. Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy - This is what you do when #2 and #3 don't work. Success rate is 90%. There are some side effects to the surgery - sore throat, bleeding, and sinus infection. But the apnea would mostly likely be cured and breathing would regulate. This should help with bacteria in the throat and the adenoids and would lessen infection in the ears. However, #4 may also be needed.

4. BMT (or ear tubes). I told the dr. Sophie had 4 - 5 ear infections in 6 months. She never really had them before, this year was the first year of repeated ear infections. I hope I didn't have the number wrong. I'm now thinking it might have been 3. It's confusing because every time she had one, Tripp got one, then she got hers back, repeat. So she may not have had as many as I first thought. Four or five could have included some of Tripp's infections. I've called our pediatrician to verify. But, regardless, she has so much fluid in her ear that it's causing hearing loss so Dr. Hermann said it would probably be best to do the tubes while he was doing everything else so as not to have to do another surgery. He did say that if the fluid drained before her surgery, he would rethink placing the tubes.

Based on the severity of her sleep issues, the size of her tonsils and adenoids, and the less than stellar % of the other two options working, we've decided to go with options #3 and #4. I'm worried, like any mom would be with anestesia involved, but I'm sure she'll do fine. Recovery doesn't sound fun except, of course, for all the popsicles that she'll get to eat. I'm sure we'll manage and I have a feeling Sophie will get pampered by her Aunt Tara. Aw, my sweet baby girl is going to have surgery. That's crazy to me because I've never even had surgery! Wish her luck and say prayers that all goes well on the 23rd.