Thursday, April 21, 2011

What's going on...

So It's been a while since I last posted (close to six months), and I think right now I just need a little place to vent.
Soooo... last week I took Maddie to the doctor, because her tonsils were Huge!  While there I asked the doctor (not our regular one) If we might have to have them removed down the road.  I was worried because I had to have mine out when I was 8, and had problems relating to them for years they actually took them out.  The doctor set up a referral for Maddie with the Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist, and they set up an appointment for Tuesday 4/19.  Hannah Had a doctors appointment in between with our regular doctor.  While I was at the appointment I asked him about Maddie and what his opinion was of meeting with the specialist.  He told me that she didn't fit the criteria for having her tonsils out yet, but to go ahead and keep the appointment just to see.  I almost cancelled it, but now I am very glad I didn't. 

We got to the appointment and waited 20 minutes in a small room, with lots of medical equipment (with two cranky little girls) so I was already a little worn out.  The doctor came in and looked in Maddie's nose and at her throat.  She told me that on a scale of 1-4 (1 being the smallest, and 4 being the largest) Maddie's tonsils are a 3.5, she also told me that adenoids follow the same pattern. She then explained that the do take out the tonsils and adenoids of kids her age, but it's best to wait if your can.  She said it's hard to get them to understand they have to drink even though it hurts, and they tend to get dehydrated.  She also said that because Maddie is already small, blood loss and weight loss could be and issue.  Then she looked in her ears.  She told me that because her adenoids were so big they are causing fluid to build up in her ear drums.  And the fluid in her ears is probably causing some hearing loss.  She also told me that the fact that she snores alot combined with her large tonsils and adenoids could mean that she is having some obstructive sleep apnea.

Wait..... What??????

I was totally not expecting this.  I almost cancelled the appointment because I thought it would be a waste of time.  This was supposed to be an appointment where they told me, "oh this is normal"  or "don't worry about this for now, we'll check back on it in a couple years"  It was very scary.  I emailed Maddie's regular doctor that night, and the following day he left a message on my phone.  He told me that he sent referrals to have a detailed hearing test and an apnea sleep study.  He then told me that I needed to contact the school district and have her evaluated by a speech therapist to see if her difficulty hearing is causing her to have speech problems.

So that night I decided to Google "3 year old tonsillectomy".  I came across blog support groups for the parents of small children who have had the surgery.  I was way freaked out!  They all talk about the pain and the screaming.  How the medicine burns, and they are completely miserable. 

I've never been through anything like this before, and I feel guilty on top of everything else.  Sometimes when you talk to Maddie she'll say "what, what did you say'.  I thought maybe she was being sassy (she does that alot) but I was going to bring it up at her next well child check up.  Now I know that she really can't hear us well. That is heartbreaking,  what if I would have brought her in sooner. I worry about it effecting her.  I worry about her having the surgery, I worry about her not having the surgery. I'm kinda stuck.  So for now I have the appointments set up for all her upcoming doctors visits, and when we get the results of all her test, we'll be better able to figure out what we need to do.