It's a done deal!

Jack's surgery (officially called "Tube ventilation placement, tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy") was yesterday morning. Austin talked me into moving it to the last week of school. It made for a very stressful week, but now that it's done, I'm really glad we did it. I was a nervous wreck the days leading up to it and I think I barely slept the night before. He checked in at 7:45am at the American Fork Hospital and I was very relieved to walk in and within minutes see two familiar faces. Mel Jorgensen and Cheryl Grace were there and even though neither were our nurses, it was still comforting to have them there!

As you can see, Jack is very unhappy to be here. Ha! He had been so excited about it. Obviously, he didn't know what was coming to him, but my smart husband had been talking up "the trip to the big doctors" for days and it paid off! Jack would talk about it constantly, so by the time it actually rolled around he was thrilled to be there! He quickly won over the nurses and staff...it made it that much easier to actually go through with it.



Jack picked up this baseball in Austin's car on the ride over. Who knew that would be his source of comfort? He held on to it the whole time before and after!

The socks they put on him were ridiculous. They're "one size fits all". Yeah right.


Jack's nurse was very sweet with him. She played catch with him for awhile to win his trust and affection and then she loaded him up with stickers. He used them all right away!

Jack showing us that the doctors are going to fix his mouth. Don't mind the dry patch around his mouth...we weren't allowed to use any lotions on him that morning. And, as for the scrapes on his eye and lip, well, Jack just wouldn't be Jack without some sort of injury. I think he was just trying to get more sympathy! :)

His nurse was willing to take our camera in and take some pictures. I'm so she did because otherwise....

we wouldn't have been able to have this nasty proof of how incredibly large his tonsils were (scroll fast if you're a wuss...I mean, if you have a weak stomach! :) ) It was all the nurse and the doctor could talk about to us when they were done. The doctor said they're about twice the size of the ones he usually removes!

Poor kid, huh? The doctor was excited for him because now "Jack will be able to sleep so much better". When we informed him that Jack is a great sleeper and always has been, he was in awe. He said, "I don't even know how he breathes when he sleeps!" If you look at the left side of both of them (the one on the left is facing the wrong way) you can see they have flat sides. That's from them pushing against each other when his mouth is in a relaxed state. I hadn't thought about it, but he explained that whenever we look at his tonsils, his mouth is wide open, which stretches the tonsils. So, when we could see them, they still looked huge and close together, but I never knew that when his mouth was closed that they would go even closer together!

After the surgery was over and before we had Jack back, the nurse came in and told us that everything went really well and smoothly. Those words are invaluable to a set of worried parents! I know that it's a common and simple procedure, but I couldn't help but let my mind explore the possible "what if's". When they wheeled him away, I gave him a kiss and thought, "that could be the last one for all I know." Lucky for us, it wasn't and everything went fine. She said she was very impressed with Jack's bravery. When they wheeled him back to the OR he remained happy and never once whined or cried. I was excited to know that he wasn't in a state of panic or hysterics. And then they brought Jack back to us. Oh my. They had warned us that he was going to be mad coming out of the anesthesia, but I was not prepared for how he really was. Jack is usually a mild mannered kid and is usually easy to distract or reason with. Well, apparently when he's not really coherent, any sort of reasoning or distractions are not going to work. He was screaming and flailing and trying to rip the IV out of his hand. They had to put a hose that blew out oxygen right in front of his face because he kept holding his breath. I could tell the IV was really hurting him and one time he actually got a pretty good hold of it. He kinked it which sent the monitors into a tizzy and she had to come try to save the line. If she couldn't fix it, she'd have to replace it, which we REALLY didn't want to do. So, I'm sitting in a chair holding him against me with all of my strength with one hand and the other hand is trying to keep the oxygen going toward him. Austin was trying to hold his hands away from each other while holding the arm with the IV in it still so the nurse could fix it. This portion of our day lasted WAY too long. He was hysterical and yelling, "I'm stuck, Mom!" Yes, he really was. He was still really out of it and in pain from the IV. It was one of the saddest experiences of my life. I was trying to stay calm and collected so that I could try to calm Jack down, but when I looked up and saw the tears streaming down Austin's cheeks, I couldn't hold back mine back any longer. Finally, the nurse fixed the line and was able to save it, another nurse got him a sippy cup of apple juice (which he surprisingly started drinking right away without even a flinch!) and after about 30 minutes we were able to get him completely calmed down. Once he was fully out of the anesthesia, he was totally fine! He kept dozing in and out of sleep and would squirm like he was uncomfortable. So, I laid him down in the hospital bed with his blanket, stuffed dog and baseball and turned on the TV and he was a happy camper!

These pictures were obviously taken after worst part of the ordeal was over.


They told us that once he drank all of his juice and was able to hold it down for 15 minutes that they could take his IV out. We knew that once that came out that we'd get our happy Jack back. He was so willing to drink, something I was not expecting at all! He had it gone in about 15-20 minutes and the IV was out shortly after that! Woo hoo!



This was his best attempt at a smile at this point! :)




Of course, we had to get an ice cream cone on the way home!

And, honestly, from this point up to the moment that I write this, you wouldn't even know that he had anything done. He hasn't whined, he hasn't complained or cried. He's as happy and energetic as can be and is eating and drinking like a champ!

It's so stinking cute to hear his little voice now! It's a little bit higher pitched and so much clearer! Granted, his pronunciation isn't drastically improved (yet...), but his voice is no longer muffled! I thought I would miss his old voice, but his new one is so cute that I'm ok with it! I love this little man so much! Thanks to everyone for their comforting and encouraging words and prayers! Knowing we had so much support made this experience so much more bearable! Love to you all!

What? What's that you say? I can't hear you.

Ah, our sweet little Jack man. We've recently learned a whole lot about him and his speech problems. Like I've said before, most of what he says is vowels and he's still super hard to understand. I get most of what he's saying, but not all of the time. At first, I was just chalking it up to him being a boy and being a late talker. Spencer was a late talker too. But when his 3rd birthday rolled around and there was still little improvement, I began to worry. I talked with his pediatrician about it at his 3 year check up and he suggested speech therapy. I inquired about a hearing test, but he said that the speech therapist would take care of that. So, off we went to Mrs. Sorenson down at Forbes (the kids' elementary school) to speech therapy. She was about half way done with her assessment when she said, "I don't even need to finish this to know that he will need extensive help." Awesome. I asked her about a hearing test. She said that it probably wouldn't work well for a child this young, but we could go ahead and try. She put the huge earphones on his head and sure enough, every time he heard the beep, he would say, "Hear that?" He would then grab the earphone on the side that he was hearing the beep. She was impressed that he went through the entire test and then concluded that his hearing was fine. So, ignorant me, went along with it and assumed that his hearing must be fine. We've been continuing on with speech therapy with slow progress. She has said on several different occassions, "It's been awhile since I've had one like this." That's never good.

Several weeks later, I was talking with a friend whose son was exhibiting similar speech patterns. She had told me all about their turn of events that lead to them finding out that he couldn't hear very well. I then decided to take it upon myself to get more extensive hearing tests done for Jack. I called an audiologist (who happened to be in the same building as our pediatrician) and set up an appointment. We went in and Jack did really well through several different tests. He was tested for nerve damage and pressure within the ear. The doctor put Jack and I in a sound proof booth (one day when I'm rich and famous I'm going to get one of those to sleep in! Holy moly! You don't realize how much white noise is going on around you until you go into one of those!) and put headphones on him and played beeps at different pitches. The result of his testing indicated that his eustachian tubes aren't properly equalizing the pressure build up in his ears. He said that his ears are constantly like ours would be if we went up a mountain or in an airplane and we couldn't get our ears to pop. He likened him learning language to someone being taught English, but every time they are taught it's by a different teacher with a different dialect (australian, english, southern, etc). He said his ears probably do shift a little bit with the pressure in turn making his hearing change constantly throughout the day. I asked him what the course of action would be to fix this problem. This is where my frustration with him began. He said, "Well, he has to learn to pop his ears." What? You want me to try to teach a 3 year old how to pop his ears? You really think that if they haven't popped on their own by now that they are even able to? Then I said, "What if he can't?" He replied, "They usually correct themselves by the time they are 8-10." Are you even remotely serious? You want me to wait for 5-7 years for this problem to correct itself? I kept on and kept on, searching for options and he kind of washed his hands of it and said that he only had a glimpse through a small window of the whole problem and that he wouldn't be able to figure out what to do with him after only being with him for a half an hour. This stupid conversation went on for about 20 minutes only to then determine that that's not his job! He does testing and hearing aids. He said that for further treatment I would need to see his pediatrician. Where was that answer 20 minutes ago?! So, off we went, up the elevator to his pediatrician. I explained the problem and they immediately referred me to an ENT who happened to be on the 3rd floor of the same building. So, back out to the elevator we went and made an appointment with them for two days later.


We met with the ENT who reviewed the previous tests done by the audiologist and ran some tests of his own. He put a device in Jack's ear that completely plugged the ear and sent some sort of shock wave or puff of air (I can't remember) into Jack's ear that would determine the station of the ear drum. The ear drum lies at the base of the ear canal and should be flat and flush. That is what they call a zero. If the ear drum bulges towards the ear canal (the outside of the head), then that indicates a build up of fluid within the inner ear and if the ear drum bulges toward the middle ear (the inside of the head), then that indicates that something is creating a vacuum within his ear. Both of Jack's ears have a vacuum effect going on. He explained that his eustachian tubes (which equalize the pressure build-up and run from the middle ear into the back of the nasal drainage system and throat) are not functioning at all. The solution? Simple. He just needs tubes put in his ears. It's a low risk surgery where they make a small slit in the ear drum and insert a tube that looks like a very small and elongated spool. Although that won't fix the problem with the eustachian tube, it will allow the pressure build up to release in his ears. The eustachain tube usually corrects itself by the time the child is 8-10 (which is what the audiologist was trying to tell me, but he was suggesting that we just wait until then. Loser.) He was explaining how simple and painless the procedure is and we were about to wrap up the appointment when I then asked him how much tonsils and adenoids play into this situation. He asked about recurring strep or other throat infections. He did have one throat infection in February that was horrible. Here's a picture of his throat. Brace yourself. It's nasty.

If you look at his infection covered tonsils, you can see that they're touching. I explained this infection to him but then also informed him that this has been an isolated incident and not a recurring problem. He said that they usually don't remove tonsils or adenoids until kids are between the ages of 4-6. That's when they usually cause the most problems. He said, "If this were my kid, I wouldn't do anything until there's a significant cause." Then he said, "Well, let me take a look at them before you leave." Jack opened his mouth and the doctor peered in and said, "That sure changes things!" I asked him what he was talking about and he said, "His tonsils are huge!" I assured him that I was well aware that they were. He said they were a Stage IV. That meant nothing to me so I asked, "Out of what?" . He said that the biggest they can get is a Stage IV. Lovely. He said, "I take it back. If this were my kid, I'd have these removed as soon as you can." Judging by the size of his tonsils he drew the assumption that his adenoids were enlarged as well. Come to find out that the adenoids sit at the base of the eustachian tubes! He said that he would put money on the fact that the oversized adenoids were probably blocking the bases of the eustachian tubes which was in turn creating the vacuum! He also said that his tonsils are so large that they are preventing his tongue from a full range of motion so that he can't even properly form words! So, not only can he not hear us very well (he likened what he hears to what you sound like if you put your hand over your mouth and talk), but he can't speak well either!

He instantly became very apologetic because he had talked up such a simple procedure to me, but with this new diagnosis, that would change. It is a much more involved surgery and the recovery would be significantly more intense. I got teary eyed and he became more and more apologetic, assuming that I was a scared mom. Of course I was nervous for the procedure, but that was not the cause for my tears. I couldn't explain to him in words how excited I was for a cause for Jack's issues and a relatively easy solution. Over this whole process I couldn't help but wonder how much of the issue with Jack was a physical problem and how much of it is mental. After the original hearing test with the speech therapist, I was led to believe that it was probably some of both. Now this doctor is telling me that it's probably all physical and it could all be fixed!! I was overcome with gratitude. I knew at that moment that our prayers had been answered and that our family fast had played a role in me becoming more proactive in this situation.

So, we have Jack scheduled for surgery on June 24th. They could have gotten us in sooner, but since the recovery is supposed to be a beast, I wanted to be able to devote my full attention to him. The last couple of weeks in May are a nightmare because of all of the year end performances at school and dance and then I have my piano recital on the 25th. The first two weeks of June all of the kids have swim lessons, so the 24th it is! I so wish I could be in his head to hear the "before" and "after". The doctor said that he should be caught up with his speech within six months! Yipee!! Please keep him in your prayers that day that everything goes well and without a hitch and that there is rapid recovery and improvement with his hearing and speech!