My Quirky Kid: Beautiful Bones

Will has a long history of snoring. I think he's snored profoundly for at least 2 years. I snored as a child, and heaven knows both of his Grandpa's snore, so I figured it was completely normal and genetic.

I mentioned it to St. Kathryn months ago and she said maybe he had enlarged adenoids and to have an ENT check him out. I did and the ENT was rather expensive (even with a copay) and I needed to get a few other tests before we could go any further. At the time, he was sleeping completely fine, he just snored. So I just decided to not do anything with it because we had much bigger fish to fry at the time with Will.

Fast forward to two months ago. Will regularly falls asleep on the couch at night and I started to notice his breathing was irregular. Within a few weeks it was really irregular. He was skipping breaths and then wheezing. Just a few days after that, I felt like I was watching him suffocate just minutes after he fell asleep. He would skip breaths for 15 seconds and then gasp for air an repeat the cycle. Freaky. I figured it was sleep apnea and my google search confirmed it.

Around the same time, a coworker of Cortney's mentioned that her son had sleep apnea and there was a correlation between sleep apnea and ADHD symptoms, not to mention speech issues. Thought provoking/google search-worthy, to say the least. Could sleep be the the answer to Will's struggles? He had started a pretty mean streak of violent outbursts again, and looking back, I think it was his way of saying "Enough. Figure out what's going on with me." He always has a way of letting us know when something it out of sync. The more I thought about it, the more I thought I would, personally, be a horrible monster if I hadn't had deep sleep in months and my behavior would be "erratic", at the bare minimum. More than anything, I just felt so bad for him.

Over that weekend, I sent a video of Will sleeping to St. Kathryn and asked if she thought this was sleep apnea. Her response: Wow. Follow up with ENT ASAP. I called the ENT Monday morning and scheduled an appt for three weeks away, the first appt they offered me. Kathryn came over that afternoon for therapy and she said they'd probably order a sleep study to watch him sleep and confirm apnea before doing surgery. She asked for a flashlight and looked in his mouth and said, "Whoa. Those are huge. Yeah, I don't think they're going to need a sleep study. They're just going to take those out." She showed me inside his mouth and pointed out his tonsils- there was barely an opening in his throat. From what I could see, his throat looked about the circumference of a clementine. The airway going down his throat was the size of a dime. She told me to call the ENT back and tell them it was an emergency and we needed a sooner appt. We were able to get an appt in two days, but needed to get an X-ray between now and then.

I was completely dreading the X-ray as I knew Will would be terrified. He hates all doctor's offices or anything that resembles it. Throw in the fact that he has to sit still... Bad combo. I briefed Will and told him someone needed to take a picture of his throat. He was a little anxious in the waiting room, but when we got back he was so calm. I stayed with him until they asked me to leave the X-ray room while they took the picture. I told Will I'd be right back and he said, "I be OK Mom." And he was. I came back 30 seconds later and they showed me the X-ray on the computer (technology is so cool) and I was taken aback. It was such a beautiful image.

I could see Will's profile perfectly. His nose, and teeth, his chin, and the vastness of his brain. His spinal cord met perfectly with his vertebrae connecting with his skull. It was such a "grassroots" image. Like I could see into Will's core. His bones. And the strength of those bones.

I pointed out the picture to Will and excitedly said, "Will! Those are your bones!" The technician pointed out two things to me, almost in passing: his adenoids and his airway. I have no idea how big adenoids are supposed to be (truth be told, I'm still not entirely sure what they do), but they were huge. Easily the size of quarters. Then she pointed to a narrow dark river-looking thing between his adenoids and mouth. It was his airway. Again, I don't know how big his airway is supposed to be, but it was tiny. It was clear just from looking at the picture- Will can't breathe. It made me sink.

I took a picture of the X-ray with my phone and sent it to Kathryn, with no text attached. Keep in mind we weren't headed to the ENT until the next day. She quickly responded, "OMG Tell them you want the surgery at Fairfax Hospital."

Off to the ENT we went. I put the X-ray up on the lights to play with Will, showing him all his bones before the doctor came in. When she came in, before saying hi or anything, she said "Wow, those are big adenoids." For about 3 minutes total, she looked in his throat and in his ears and said, "His tonsils and adenoids definitely need to be addressed" and spent the next 15 minutes talking about the surgery and explaining the recovery. She handed me a card to the office surgery scheduler with the instruction to call and get something on the books ASAP. And just like that we were headed to surgery.

Doctor said we could keep the X-ray as a souvenir and before I took it off the lights, Will said, "Mommy! My bones! They're so beautiful!"

They are Baby. They are.




*surgery is Feb 18 for removal of tonsils and adenoids, and possibly tubes. There was some fluid in his ears at the time of the appt and due to Will's Auditory Processing Delay and since he'll already be under, they will drain his ears/insert tubes if there is still fluid because he's already struggling in that department. The recovery is a week and I think he'll bounce back easily. The only part I'm really worried about is that he can't be "active" for two weeks post-op. Um, can I give him a sedative? That might be the only way that can be achieved.

Prayer

Our kids go through cycles whether they like prayer and scripture study or not. After a long stretch where they screamed "Nnnnnnooooooooo!!!!!" every time we mentioned prayer, they both seem to be on board with prayer as of late*.

Tonight Duke prayed before he went to bed and the intelligible words I caught were bath, medicine, pasta, and milk. I just love hearing their prayers. It reminds me of what my prayers should be...conversing with my Father in Heaven about the happenings of my day, instead of a list at the end of the day.

*I suck at enforcing scripture study. Our "scripture study" is reading one scripture mastery scripture. This happens four times a week, on a good week. It sounds so painfully simple, but yet it is so hard for us to accomplish most of the time. I really hope I get the hang of it soon. I really want the boys to remember having regular scripture study throughout their life like I did (how my mom organized a real 15 min scripture study with 4 kids at a time is totally mind blowing to me), and they don't remember that we did it "sometimes".

Sickness

Thursday 7 pm: Will falls asleep for the night like normal.

10 pm: Will wakes up screaming, literally, and grabbing his ear saying it hurts. He immediately asks for a bandaid and puts it over his ear. After quite a bit of sobbing, he's able to calm down a go back to sleep. I've never seen him in this much pain. It was heart wrenching.



Friday 6:30 am: Will wakes up for the day. He crawls in bed with Cort and he feels warm and he's a little weepy. We take his temperature to find he's at 102. Motrin administered.

8 am: wait for the Dr to open, only to find out they had walk in hours earlier. I know he's in pain, and i ask Will if there's anything he wants for breakfast. He says a chocolate ice cream cone. We go to the grocery store in a snow storm to buy chocolate ice cream and cones. In my book, you should get to eat anything you want when you're sick.

9:30 am: we see the Dr and Will cries that he doesn't want to go because he feels all better. He's jumping around the Dr office, acting completely Will-like. Temperature is taken and its down to 99. Dr finds a "nasty, nasty" ear infection. We also discover he's lost 4 lbs (10% of his nody weight) since his ENT appt 2 weeks ago. This is worrisome. Especially since Will is going to lose more weight after his surgery in 2 weeks.

10:15 am: fill the prescription at CVS. Will calmly asks for another bandaid for his ear. He also asks for McDonalds. We get food, but he doesn't eat anything. We get home and I give him antibiotics.

Noon: Will falls asleep on the couch. So does Duke, but he only sleeps for 15 minutes. Sigh. Not good.

1 pm: I notice Wills eyes are barely open. I call his name and he doesn't respond. I feel him and he's burning up. I take his temperature and its 104.3. I immediately call the Dr and they tell me to give him another dose of Motrin, and a dose of Tylenol and to call them back in an hour and tell them if his temp has gone down. Run to CVS again to get tylenol and sprite. He hasn't eaten or had anything to drink since his ice cream cone. Will's eyes are glassy, he can't stand by himself, and his lips are maroon. Trying not to freak out. I come out to the car with the medicine and sprite. He drinks maybe 1 teaspoon of sprite.

2 pm: watching the clock and Will like a hawk. I take his temp again and it's down to 102. Call the Dr back and she says to keep giving him Tylenol and Motrin for the next 24 hrs. His "nasty, nasty" ear infection is probably just awful and his body is freaking out trying to fight it. Dr reassures me they'll be open Saturday am, if the night doesn't go well.


3 pm: Will asks for a sandwich and cheese, which after a few failed attempts I realize is a grilled cheese sandwich (he hasn't liked these much in the past). We make it together and Will finishes it quickly. Doesn't his neck look super skinny?



3:30 pm: trying to strike while the iron is hot, I make a batch of cookies because I know Will will eat them. He eats 2 spoonfuls of cookie dough.

4 pm: Will and Duke wrestle in the living room (Duke gets his head caught under the buffet table momentarily) while a neighbor comes over and chats for a little bit.

5 pm: we go to the grocery store to grab a few things. Duke is a freaking mess from no nap. My "sick" child is by far the easier one at this time of the day.

6 pm: we get home and Will asks for his chicken nuggets and fries from earlier. I nuke them and he polishes them off with a smile on his face. He's an absolute gem the rest of the night. Give him another dose of Tylenol and antibiotics.

7 pm: Duke puts himself to bed. Thank goodness.

9 pm: Will falls asleep.

Saturday 3:30 am: Will is in my bed (he must have migrated there at some point during the night) and starts stirring. He finally comes to and keeps sticking his finger in his ear. He tells me his ear hurts and needs some water. He feels a little warm and I give him more Tylenol and Motrin.

4 am: Will and I cuddle on the couch and watch nickelodeon.

What I look/feel like right now