Fletcher has gotten pretty good at opening his mouth, sticking out his tongue, and saying "aahhh" for me as I shine a flashlight down his throat. Hopefully we won't have to be doing that as much now that he has no tonsils or adenoids. He's also been a great patient at repeated trips to the doctor, while he sits still and lets them check his ears, typically finding one ear infection after another. Hopefully he won't have to be visiting them as often now that he has tubes in his ears. It's been a long road getting to this point.
Fletcher kept getting ear infections and sometimes I would just suspect one without any real indication that something was going on. Last fall I had asked about seeing an ENT, but the pediatrician said he needed to have 6 ear infections within one calendar year. I went home and counted and we had just made the mark. I called them back, but apparently, they didn't get the message. So, another year later, with more ear infections and added throat issues, I kept asking about seeing an ENT. Over the course of this past year, he went from taking 1/2 tsp. of Zyrtec every night to taking a full teaspoon each night. Each time we'd take him off of it to "see if he really needed it," he would get sick. In April it really seemed like he did have an allergy to something outside.
Then I read my friend, Robyn's blog (Hi, Robyn!) where she was talking about her daughter's behavior and restless nights followed by long, tired, ornery days. As I read her post, I was thinking of what I have seen with Fletcher. Like her, I thought his behavior was just a stage...that seemed to be a very long stage. I thought it was his age. I thought he was just an active sleeper. I thought he just needed more sleep. I thought a lot of things.
We never knew how active he was sleeping until we got a video monitor. He's all over the place and even gets out of bed, gets upset, and goes back to sleep on his own. (Falling asleep on his own probably has more to do with us not going in there than anything else.) He always seems to have circles under his eyse and even though he's in his room for 11-12 hours each night, he still naps anywhere from 1-3 hours during the day.
Anyway, I pushed for allergy testing because Robyn shared how she had her daughter tested and found out she wasn't allergic to anything, and yet she was on medicine for allergies! So...the tests revealed that Fletcher has a slight allergy to dogs and dog dander. The doctor was very clear with the "slight" part of that diagnosis. We are not getting rid of Knuckles, but I'm back to washing her bedding each week, giving her more frequent baths, and furminating her quite a bit, and vacuuming almost every day in the living room and of course, each week everywhere else. But, if his allergy is only a slight one, why the maximum dose of Zyrtec? And, to this point, I requested to see an ENT again. Request granted.
Armed with my list of his ear infection and throat issue history from February 2011 to present, I was able to get him scheduled for a tonsilectomy and adenoidectomy and have tubes put in his ears. I really didn't want the tubes because I don't want to have to monitor water getting in his ears in the tub and I wanted to get him swim lessons. Which, I can do with a swim cap or earplugs, but errr....annoying. Anyway, it is what it is. Plus she had a good point...it was likely he needed both and since he'd be going under for one, why go through the whole process again in a few months rather than just take care of it all at once.
My list wasn't complete, because I know there were more, but it showed 9 ear infections, 4 relentless cough or throat issues, 2 cases of strep throat between March and August, and tonsilitis once. This does not include the ear infection she found in her ENT office, along with the tonsilitis that developed that week even though he was on antibiotics! When he had a cough the morning of surgery they asked me how long he had had it, and of course we have one series after another, I didn't know the answer. After surgery, she informed me that his cough was likely due to having a sinus infection! Yes, ear infection, sinus infection, and tonisilitis all at the same time while on antibiotics!!!
Can you see those giant tonsils in the back of that mouth? Ta-ta tonsils!
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