Adenoids and Tonsils

[Guest guest]

Hi Jeanne:

My daughter was dx with obstructive sleep apnea at age 3 1/2 years old. We

were aware that she snored at times, but only after we went on a family

vacation that I had to share a bed with her for 3 nights did I realize how

loudly

she snored and restless she slept. We returned home from vacation on a

Sunday night and I called an ENT Monday morning. We got an appointment for

Tuesday morning. (Unheard of -- usually has a month waiting list) Just proves

to

me again that it happened for a reason.

I took her to the appointment and her adenoids were blocking 95%! The

doctor was amazed at how enlarged they were. He scheduled her surgery 2 weeks

from that date. She did fine during the surgery -- only her adenoids were

removed. Her tonsils were small. She never had ear infections or rarely sick.

She did have a very bad reaction to the anesthesia. Usually this surgery is

done on an outpatient surgery and child goes home a few hours later. She

was the first child to have surgery that morning. She woke up in recovery like

a wild animal trapped for days. It was awful. They finally got her calmed

down and stabilized and sent us to the recovery waiting room with all of the

other kids who had surgery after her. We saw them come and walk out a few

hours after surgery. There we sat for hours and hours, with our little girl

vomiting, crying and not wanting to drink a drop of liquid. Finally, they put

her into the hospital due to dehydration and the reaction to the anesthesia.

We were able to go home in 2 days.

It was hard to see that and the doctor informed us that some kids can have a

bad reaction to the anesthesia just as adults can. HOWEVER, one month after

surgery, the words started pouring out of her. Two weeks after surgery --

she came into the kitchen one day as I was preparing homemade sauce to say to

me, " Mommy that smells good. " Another day, our lawn has just been mowed. We

went outside afterwards and she said " Mommy, the grass smells good. " I

mentioned this to the ENT at her 2 week post op visit. He informed me that she

was probably smelling things for the first time in her life. Also, she

stopped gagging when eating food. The ENT and her SLP explained that we have

to

breathe through our noses when we put food in our mouths to eat and she was not

able to do that with such enlarged adenoids.

I must add she was dx with apraxia at 18 months. AND believe me, that was

the money dx because she is apraxic.

If you would like to email me off the grouplist, I'd be happy to talk with

her and share more info.

Best regards,

Kim Vallin (kimmiev@...)