ENT

I'll begin by catching things up some.  When the sleep study results came back positive for Mild Chronic Obstructive Sleep Apnea, our pediatrician was hesitant to jump on the tonsil/adenoid surgery train.  She explained that if the apnea was caused by allergies, the adenoids would just grow back and the surgery would be pointless.  So, we went and had blood work done to test for the allergist.  It all came back negative though so we were then referred to an ENT.

Sophie and I visited Dr. Deitch today and he was wonderful with her.  I would say he's been the best pediatric specialist we've met yet.  He was right on her level, and she actually enjoyed the examination.  He came to the same conclusion all others have, her tonsils aren't huge (not small necessarily but also not huge), though the left is slightly larger that the right.  His advice is that we go ahead with the surgery in anticipation of her adenoids being huge and the cause of the apnea.  He did clarify that if they are found to be normal, which he doubts, they would not proceed with the surgery but he doesn't think it's worth spending the resources on an x-ray first.

He took the time to clarify that if she didn't have a seizure disorder he would recommend simply waiting and re-checking later to see if she just can outgrow the apnea, but due to the seizure complication it's better to go ahead and do the surgery.  There were various reasons for this which he explained very clearly but of course of which I retained very little.  He also pointed out that his recommendation follows the sleep doctors recommendation completely.

The surgery is done on a Monday, and she'll be out of school for a week.  I guess it's good we're taking care of it while she only has three days of school weekly.  We're thinking the Monday before Thanksgiving will be best since Joe and Sophie already have Thursday and Friday off.  I think we've decided I'll take Monday through Wednesday off instead of Thanksgiving and the day after.  In the end, I'll only spend one extra day of PTO and she can stay home where she's comfortable all week.  The bad news is that we were planning on heading to Eau Claire for Thanksgiving, which we haven't done in far too long, but luckily much of our family will be visiting us here the weekend before for my Consecration and I think we'll still travel to Eau Claire the next weekend once she's feeling better.

So, for now, I'll be working on Thanksgiving while cooking a small turkey in the crockpot, if that is possible. It may just go down as our worst Thanksgiving ever but we'll count our blessings and all that we're thankful for nonetheless.

Now, on to Halloween!

Results Are In...

I finally heard back from the Sleep Doctor on Friday.  I had been calling their office practically every day-- not necessarily to get the results of the sleep study in its fullness but more to see if there was any seizure activity recorded.  See, when we arrived for the sleep test I was thrilled that an EEG was part of it and have been anxiously awaiting the results of that portion of the test ever since.  The rest I hardly thought about, I figure that her snoring was from the chronic sinusitis which has since been controlled by 10 mgs. daily of Claritin.

Before I give the results, I'll fill you in on the test.  When I scheduled the test, I let them know that due to Sophie's school nurse's recommendation she is now going to be at 7:30 each night.  The earliest they do the tests is 8:30 so we kept her up extra late and she and I drove to the clinic in our jammies, teeth brushed, faces washed and ready to go.  (I also have to mention that on the drive there I received the most heart-warming voicemail that had been left earlier in the day from a member of my church, assuring me of her prayers and honoring how difficult our journey has been).  So, at long last we arrived to the clinic and were told it would take about an hour to get her ready.  They were right, at about 9:45 the nurse completed all the wiring, pasting, and gauze-wrapping as Sophie sat in a chair nodding off to sleep.  I knelt on the floor in front of her, assuring her it would only be moments, and preparing to catch her should she truly fall asleep.

As far as I knew, she only woke up once, calling out for me.  I slept in a room adjoined to her, just like two hotel rooms with a door between.  Her's full of cameras, computers, and wires; mine just full of, well, me...and my Kindle...oh, and the sleep number bed--I'm a 35.  Anyway, when she woke up the nurse came in with a flash light and allowed me in the room to calm her back to sleep.  Next thing I knew, a voice was coming through the speakers saying, "Sophie, time to wake up."  And we did.  After about 20 minutes what took forever to paste on to her was off and we were free to go.

So, six days later the doctor called.  The great news--No Seizure Activity noted!  She did clarify that it wasn't a full EEG, but from the areas of the brain that were monitored there were no Absence Seizures that night.  What a relief.  I had been so nervous that although we don't see them during the day anymore, she might still be having them at night!  The not-so-great-news--she has Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea.  The sleep doctor stated that after we come in to go over the results more fully we'll be referred to an ENT.  She noted, "I'm not a surgeon, so I have to refer you to one."  I'm guess this translates to surgery being our next step.

I'm hopeful that this will only help Soph's mood.  It is one more step towards a good night of sleep for her.  One more time that we get to joyously travel through anesthesia with her--neither Joe nor I am looking forward to that experience again!  But in the end, we're getting closer.  At times I've been wondering if there might be some bigger picture we're missing with all these diagnoses, but I'm hopeful we're almost done.

Other Updates of Note:  The second opinion we got on her vision came out clear.  No glasses needed, her astigmatism is tiny and does not require corrective lenses.  She doesn't have to go back for 18 months!

Also, we had an appointment with the neurologist this past week and he is very pleased with her progress.  He believes all is going as planned and he's happy she's putting on weight.

I'll update again when we have a set plan regarding the Apnea.