This all started a couple months ago when I realized he wasn't speaking as many words as a lot of little kiddos his age. He is shy for sure, but even at home, he wasn't talking a lot. I decided to keep track of the words he did say and at his two year check-up talked to his pediatrician. We knew all other areas of his development were right on track, so she set up an appointment with an ENT, audiologist and speech therapist.
Our first appointment was with the ENT specialist, Dr.Grieman, and an audiologist. He didn't pass the hearing test on one side due to fluid behind his ear. During the conversation with Dr. Grieman, we spoke about the number of times he has had ear infections, colds, been on antibiotics (to the best of my memory). Really, though, he hasn't had too many ear infections, but he frequently has colds.
After that appointment, we had the speech therapist come and someone that did some assessments on the little guy. As we knew he would, he passed all the developmental tests (gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, social, etc) with flying colors... most he passed near or at a 3 yr old level. However, he only gestured during the verbal assessment and didn't say one word to them. Partially, because he's shy and takes a while to warm up, but he just doesn't say much...
Soon after that, we had our follow-up Dr. Grieman and another audiologist appointment. Again, he did not pass the hearing test on one side due to fluid buildup. I spoke for a long time with the Dr. Grieman and we talked about our options... Tubes in the ears and adenoid removal; homeopathic options (all of which seemed like Owen would never do); and finally, antibiotics as needed - which seems like every 6-8 wks... So, after much discussion, Dan and I agreed to the surgery.
On Friday, we woke up early, took Anna to our neighbors and took Owen to the surgery center. We had been told to expect to be there for 2-3 hours. We got there at 7:30 and after checking in and practically signing away Owen, we went to the back. They checked his vitals and nurses, the anesthesiologist, and Dr. Grieman all came in and talked with us. Next, they came to get Owen and believe it or not, he went with them, in their arms... they just carried him off... no tears... nothing.
They took us to a small waiting room to wait for the doctor to come and talk with us after he's finished. It took only 15-20 minutes for him to come out and he told us all went well and that Owen was already in recovery. He said his adenoids were large and were contributing to his drainage issues and with that the fluid issues. Also, he found a lot of fluid around his ears that had been there for quite some time, contributing to his hearing issues.
As soon as Dr. Grieman was finished talking to us, they told us we could go see the little guy. The nurses were just bringing him in from the first stage of recovery. They had a great big recliner and I was able to hold him as he was waking up. As he was coming to, his big frustration was his IV and boy let me tell you, he did not want that IV in his arm. The nurses said it was a bit early to take it out, but didn't want him to pull it out himself- and he was trying to do just that- so they went ahead and took it out. As soon as it was gone, he snuggled up with me, his nuk nuk, his blankie and rested. We went home as soon as his stats were good and he had a sip of water. We arrived here shortly after 9a.
As we were driving home, he fell asleep and slept on the couch for a couple of hours. When he woke up, he seemed tired, but okay. He took another nap later in the afternoon and after that he was back to his normal self.
This morning we attempted the first bath which meant -EAR PLUGS - for the first time. After 2o minutes of coaxing and a promise from Mommy to wear them too, he let me put them in and as soon as he got to playing, he forgot all about them.
I'm not 100% sure that it is the tubes, but I will say he's saying Anna's name more clearly - it wasn't "Nana" today it was "Anna" and he's said a couple new words already this weekend.
He's completely back to his normal self other than he still has a darn cold - but he came down with it right before surgery. Let's just hope that this time it doesn't lead to an ear infection!!
He will continue with speech therapy until he's saying more words, but he looks forward to his therapist's visits - she's a lot of fun!
Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts that were sent out on Friday. We truly appreciate it!
Love,
Becky
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