Aaaahhhhhhhh ....

Did I ever tell you that I hate "Noonans Syndrome"?  I'm certainly not its number one fan!

Well, after a rough weekend with sinus and ear infections and resulting fevers/hypothermia, we were fortunate enough to get Donovan in to see the Otolaryngologist (aka ENT doctor) today.  Love it when the doctor has openings at the specialist when you child is legitimately sick.  Helps paint the true picture of what is going on.

We met with the resident first and I discussed the symptoms, he did the ear-nose-throat look-see, etc.  He then left and spoke with the specialist and she and the resident came in and I knew the first words that would escape her mouth was that he needed the adenoids removed.  I just knew it.  I was so "right on the mark".  She started asking a few more questions about his sleeping and snoring.  Asked if there were pauses in his breathing during the snoring times.  In all honesty, the only time I hear the snoring is when he is sick and it's really loud.  But he does appear to snore during the "non-sick" times too, but not as audibly.  She turns to the resident and says, "well this changes things now".  Fortunately, the doctor has another patient with Noonans that she sees.  Actually a child that is similar in age as Donovan.  This helps in her making sure that she dots and cross the proverbial I's and T's.  So she proceeds to tell me she wants him ....

1. To have a speech evaluation,
2. Hearing test,
3. Sleep Study Test (testing for Sleep Apnea) which is mandatory before tonsillectomies, especially with kids that have heart conditions,
4. Complete physical work up (a pre-op to the pre-op, or in other words a physical to determine if she'll even attempt surgery in the first place),
5. Need to move up our cardiology appointment.
6. Need to make appointment with hematologist to coordinate platelet transfusion.

I felt a bit overwhelmed and my head was spinning a bit.  All this "extra" visits to specialists are needed because of his other medical issues.  I had a strong suspicion that removal of the adenoids were going to be a discussion topic.  Was a bit shocked that she's contemplating the tonsils too.  All the doctors we spoke with beforehand all said his tonsils were small.  They are small in relative to a "normal" person with a normal size throat.  Apparently, his throat is small and the "small" tonsils may still be too big for his very small throat.  She said that the tonsils are a big factor in sleep apnea in children so she wants to validate this theory with him before removing them.  I'm grateful that she's making sure its really an issue before just removing them.  Then again, I guess its "standard rule".

Nothing can happen until the sleep study is done.  May 15th is the first available date.  Meanwhile he'll see the speech professional next week, have his pre-op a week later and then we wait and see.

The interesting thing is the doctor indicated that what she is seeing coming out of his nose is what she normally sees with kids who have seasonal allergies.  Which is what I believed he had this whole time, that it was seasonal allergies rather than a virus.  It just manifested itself in a weird manner, not something I would normally see with a cold virus.  Too many days of sneezing that happened when he was outside or shortly after being outside.  All the trees, flowers, bushes, grass were coming to bloom. It makes sense!  Even though he passed with flying colors the scratch test/allergy test less than a year ago.  I hate when people try to push a virus down my throat when I know its an allergy.  Had the same problem with Norah!  She wants to put him on a "nasal spray" to help his allergies and if this works, it may at least delay the need for the adenoid surgery.  Takes about 6 weeks to work, so we'll have plenty of time between today and when surgery would happen to determine if the nasal spray will be the cure-all.

This summer is going to be an interesting one I have a feeling.