Brody's Surgery Post

I would like to start this post by thanking those who have helped out this week, and called with the much needed moral support.
In this technology age where text messages and facebook wall posts are frequent and easy, it is comforting and refreshing to get a good ol' fashioned phone call to check in. I needed it this week, so again, thank you.

Brody went in for surgery Tuesday and had tubes put in and had his adenoids removed. It was emotional and I don't think I was prepared for him to fight and be so disoriented when he went under. I was able to be in the operating room for that part, and he breather the gas through the mask. He was kicking and flailing and trying to turn around to look at me, and when he did he was confused and scared and well let me just say as soon as I kissed that little boy and he was out, I needed the entire box of tissues to recover. I was prepared for him to have difficulty waking up, but not for going to sleep. It was rough.
Brody's surgery only ended up lasting about 40 minutes. When the nurse came to get us, she said he was awake and was asking for us. We walked back thinking he was just groggy. Oh boy were we wrong. Brody was hysterical. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, but was incredibly hoarse because of the tubes that were down his throat for surgery. He was screaming his mouth (throat) hurt "really bad" and was inconsolable. This went on for an hour. They gave him morphine to try and help, and eventually we got him to calm down a bit.
Other than these side effects and the emotional aftermath of it all, Brody's surgery went really well.
We were sent home, and he had a great day. Then the night came. It came with a vengeance. I should tell you Nathan and I have terrible colds/coughs and Brody woke up at night with what I can only describe as croup like symptoms. I have been acquainted with croup for nine years now, all my kids have gotten it, usually numerous times in a year, and let me tell you, I have never panicked. With Brody this time, I was panicking. I used all my instinctual croup trick, but the boy couldn't get a deep breath in. He was freaking out. Finally I called the hospital and tried to figure out if his throat could still be swollen from the tubes, and if maybe this along with croup was causing the problem. The doc on call said it could be. I finally calmed him down, and made an appointment first thing the next morning. We saw his primary care doctor, and he contacted Brody's ENT doctor who did the surgery to make sure giving Brody a dose of oral steroids was okay. They also discussed the extremely large size of Brody's tonsils, and informed me he would definitely need them out in the next year, maybe two.
Brody reacted the way you could expect from oral steroids. He was hyper for most of the day, and then screamed literally non stop for three hours before he finally went to bed.
I think because of the stress I've been under the past few weeks, I pretty much resembled the walking dead. Maybe I still do, but I've finally pried children off me long enough to shower, so that helps a bit.
Brody finally seems to be doing much better, although he is still complaining about his mouth hurting, and his breath (this is due to his adenoids being removed, and it is a normal side effect for the first 10 days after surgery) is rancid. I read it could smell like rotten meat. I would say it's more like spoiled milk, but maybe it will progress to rotten meat, who knows. It's bad either way. Have I told you how my sweet Brody boy loves giving kisses? Oh the things we do because we love our kids....

So there it is. Brody's surgery story. Now we wait and see if all this helps (God please let it help.)

In other blog news, I was contacted by a company that is interested in doing some giveaways. They have some great stuff folks, so let me know what you'd most like to win: a gift card for some home stuff, some cookware/bakeware, some travel (luggage) items? What would make you, my loyal, wonderful readers happy?
I do like you to be happy, and I'm not opposed to buying your friendship, as long as you tell me you love me every now and then. Okay it also helps when you say I look skinny. A little white lie never hurt anyone, right?

So tell me! What can I get for you?

Two Steps Forward

Today Brody and I met with his ENT at Children's Hospital. I went into this meeting with a lot of conviction, and ready to pull out all the stops to do what was necessary to help Brody.
The doctor was in total agreement that tubes are necessary, and I didn't even need to push the subject.
After looking at Brody's tonsils, and discussing his lack of sore throats/strep throat and the fact that the tonsils are not connected to the ears, we decided to hold off on those.
The doctor then used a scope with a camera on the end to go up Brody's nose and check out those pesky adenoids. He did great, and stopped any whimpering when I promised him I would get him a cookie when he was done.
Brody's doc said his adenoids were large and she felt good about taking them out since he would already need anesthesia with the tubes.
Brody goes in for surgery two weeks from today.

I See Audiologists: Round Two

AUDIOLOGIST: An audiologist is a healthcare professional specializing in identifying, diagnosing, treating and monitoring disorders of the auditory and vestibular system portions of the ear.


I have been anticipating this appointment for a few weeks now. After figuring out Brody can't hear whispers and the months he has been working with Early Intervention and Speech Therapists, we finally headed to Children's to repeat his hearing test, for a third time.
Folks I was seriously losing sleep over this. I just wanted it to be over and done with. I wanted answers. Most importantly I want Brody to get the right kind of help, the kind that will put him on the path to clear speech, and self confidence in speech, and no insecurities, and no fears on my end of inevitable playground/school mocking of his voice, because y'all know kids can be cruel.
So the day came, and if you need back round click here, which has even more links, to past happenings, and Brody and I headed in. The first thing they do is a thorough ear check, which includes an air pressurized test. Looking in his ears, she said they looked great. First ear read through the air test with a perfect "peak" which means it was great. Second (left) ear, read with a big fat straight line, which means it was bad. Basically either he has lots of negative pressure behind that ear drum, or fluid behind that ear drum. He'll probably be getting medicine for an ear infection in the next day or two, as her bet was fluid. (This means the tube debate will continue, I am sure.) She explained that even when you have ear infections, you lose some hearing. If you have constant negative pressure and back to back to back infections, hearing can be muffled. Think Charlie Brown's mother "whomp whomp whomp whomp."

Brody miraculously approved of wearing headphones and going through a quite extensive hearing test, to reveal basically exactly what the woman explained above. He heard almost perfectly in the ear that tested well, and heard poorly in the ear that flat lined.

What does this all mean? Well it means that for most of Brody's life, since he has had a long run of either negative pressure, full blown infections, and three perforations, he has been listening to a fuzzy, not so clear world. He may have moments of clarity, even weeks if he is lucky, which explains him being able to say anything at all, but for the most part it has been a world with muffled sound for him.

In light of these developments we have decided not to give him the go-to-sleep-brain-wave test. It seems unnecessary because if he has no ear issues, he has no hearing issues. We will now go back and consult with his pediatrician and his ENT, and he will be closely monitored by the audiologists (every 3-6 months) because despite their findings, long term ear issues and namely multiple perforations can cause permanent hearing loss.

That is where we currently stand.
Well that and I think it is a sign (this is so off subject) that I need to force Keira to stop nursing (yes she's STILL nursing) because I didn't notice that she bit me so hard that I was bleeding yesterday until she had stopped nursing. Yeah, ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch. I have felt it every second since. Why won't this baby give up the boob? Why?

Hearing Update

I have delayed writing this post to give some time to the issue. I guess I thought maybe I'd be more informed before I wrote about it, but it seems answers are always hard to come by, and more tests are required to even start the answer process, so this post is what it is. Y'all can wonder and wait along with me. How does that sound?
As most of you know we have been dealing with ear issues for a while now (see here or here for a glimpse.) Although we seemed to make headway at his last audiology appointment, in my hear I know the results were not accurate because Brody easily predicted the pattern in which the woman played the sounds (she never switched up the pattern in which she played the sounds, she instead just alternated one ear to the next, and Brody was predicting the pattern rather than hearing the noises.) I was so frustrated with the testing that day, and Brody had simply had enough of it, so I didn't push the matter, and I should have. My fault.
Now here we are, and there has been a new development. Brody can not hear whispers. This realization began when we were working with Jenn, Brody's Early Intervention worker and were addressing his extra loud speaking voice. Brody has two volumes, loud and screaming. We started to question if it was because he could not hear himself. This prompted the "inside voice" talk, and whispering to show him the difference in volumes. Low and behold, the boy couldn't hear a whisper. He just kind of stared and then tried to change the subject and divert our attention because he was uncomfortable. Since that time two weeks ago, I have worked tirelessly, whispering at different volumes, trying to get him to hear me. Every now and then he pick up a word or two, but mostly I got a big fat nothing for a reaction. Jenn spoke with Brody's speech therapist, Carla, and she is in full agreement that he is probably just not hearing and needs to be reevaluated.
To top this off he has recently been complaining about his ears again, so we're sure the negative pressure is building yet again.
My poor Brody boy.
I have put a call in to his pediatrician and am waiting to find out what course we will take next.
I just thought I'd put it all down here so y'all are up to date.
Let summer vacation officially begin!

On a Different Note

As those of you who have been following me here know, My two year old Brody has gone through a lot with his ears and speech. He works with Early Intervention, and has made so much progress since October, when we first really buckled down and started tackling these issues. Within the past month though we have sensed he has been plateauing. It is hard to not get discouraged when he made so much progress and then it seems to just stop. I know we are doing everything for him that we can though, and I feel so confidant in the choices we made to enroll him in Early Intervention when we did and seek out Audiologists and ENTs. With that said, I had a long talk with Miss Jenn, who is Brody's E.I. teacher (she comes to our house once a week) and we discussed his progress. We also discussed the underlying issue as he has started saying more words, which is his tone is off. I'm sure most of you have heard someone speak who is hearing impaired. Although Brody is far from that, there is a very similar quality or likeness in the tone of Brody's voice. Nathan and I had a long talk about the fact that this may never change. As of now, the consensus from those treating Brody is that this is caused by his hearing loss. Somber news, but it could be worse. I am choosing to rejoice in my healthy boy, my funny bunny, my sweet, dear Brody and all his potential and all the possibilities for him.

I see Audiologists...

Brody had his hearing test yesterday. We went to Children's Hospital to get the test done, and I will spare you the details of my day, which include driving for most of the day, back and forth, and never coming home until it was all over with.
The woman, who is a specialist in the Audiology Department, was very nice. We discussed the reasons for the test, and concerns, and then she checked his ears. His left was nice and clear, but his right had a lot of "junk" in it. She then did what I have referred to as the air pressure test, and he actually did better than he ever has on that. Essentially what that means is that his middle ear looks good, where as before it did not. After that we entered a small sound proof room, and Brody sat in my lap. Another Audiologist came into the room and sat across from us, and the original woman was sitting on the other side, observing Brody and working the sounds. If Brody turned towards the speaker the sound came out of, he was rewarded by a little cartoon snip it coming on a tv, or a little animal would light up. It was very odd, and A Clockwork Orange-esque. I was not allowed to make any noise, or talk, or hint that I could hear the sounds.
They switched things up, leaving us alone in the room, and then the women switched places. But there were a large chunk Brody didn't react to.
At this point Brody was done, and had lasted a pretty long time, and I'm sure he will recall memories of this odd place to his therapist someday. We then sat down, and the woman explained that Brody is hearing mid range tones perfectly fine. He could hear some low range tones, and was not hearing any high tones. What does all this mean? Well, for now it means we will be back in Children's to repeat the test focusing primarily on high and low tones (he goes back in 3 weeks) and if we get the same result, there is one more option before having to go in for a procedure where Brody would be sedated and they would record his brain waves when playing sounds.
So that is where we currently stand.