Adenotonsillectomy scheduled

DS2 has surgery scheduled for Tuesday, May 10 to have his tonsils and adenoids removed, and to have tubes put in his ears. The ear tubes surprised me, but after some quick ear & hearing tests, and me remembering that he does pull and swat at his right ear a lot (especially when not feeling well), I agree that it will be helpful.

I'm just about out of paid leave at work again, so since this qualifies for FMLA, I am going to ask for "Shared Leave" which, if granted, would cover any FMLA time off and I wouldn't have to go without pay.

CEMM Your Tonsil and Adenoid Surgery

Diagnosis: Obstructive Sleep Apnea

We got a phone call from the Pediatric Pulmonologist's nurse a few days after the sleep study saying that it was "extremely abnormal" and that we should go ahead and get an appointment up with the doctor who requested the sleep study. Today we had the follow up for the study itself and found out the details from the doctor. DS2 had 99 sleep disturbances in 9 hours. That's 11 an hour, 0-1 is normal! His oxygen saturation "baseline" was about 97% which is normal and good, and means his lungs are fine. During the night, durin REM sleep, he had 3 big episodes of oxygen dropping, with the lowest being down to 79%.

A quick internet search found these two links, which tell more about OSA in children. DS2's tonsils look like the 3+ picture on the "standardized tonsillar hypertrophy grading scale" figure.

It looks like surgery and at least one night in the hospital is in our future. I suspect it will be before the middle of May. More info to come as I know it.

18 month check

We finally got DS2 in for his 18 month "well baby" check. It was postponed once because he was sick. He was a bit congested, as what seems to be the usual these days. Our doctor was concerned about what he heard in DS2's chest, so he got a chest x-ray (which was not enjoyable), and we discovered pneumonia. That explains his cough and on-and-off fever that we attributed to colds, viruses, and teething. He's on a stronger antibiotic now, and got to postpone his shots for 2 weeks.