I know I haven't posted any of those promised pictures, but in all honestly, that is probably going to have to wait until I'm finish with this quarter of school.
In the meantime, I figured I could at least write a little here and there to let people know whats been going on...which as it turns out is not a whole lot.
There are quite a few things that I will do full posts about, with pictures...later.
Roby and I are doing well. Work and school keep us really busy. We were able to go paintballing a couple weekends ago. It was a lot of fun! My legs were extremely sore for about four days from the six hours of hiking, crouching and running around. It was well worth it though!!!
Ethan is doing well. He's doing great in school, but still has a little trouble with his reading. I'm not extremely worried about it because he has had problems since first grade...and we read all the time. He loves reading, so I figure it will "click" eventually. We have finally had a few nice days, so the kids have been able to have outside recess. This helps him get some pent up energy out, and seems to be the best way for him to make friends. He has one really good friend (the one that came to his birthday party--and is spending the night right now), but that's about it. He's such a sweet kid (probably not the term most boys want to hear), and I'm sure by the middle of next year he will have many more friends.
That brings us to Natalie. As of today she has missed 4 1/2 of the last six days of school. From a sore throat, to pink eye (again!!!), coughing, and an itchy rash... I took her in to the doctors on Monday, who said she was fine and didn't have strep throat. Then the rash came, so I took her in today...the doctor was horrible...but he said there was absolutely nothing wrong with her. But, after my persistence and insisting that something was going on, I did get a referral to an allergy specialist for early next month. Because the rash keeps coming and going, I have come to the conclusion that she currently has hives (this is the fourth/fifth time). I gave her an antihistamine earlier, and it seems to be helping a bit. And that brings us to her third doctors appointment this week. Several months ago I took her in because she had a persistent cough. The doc looked in her ears and throat. He said the only thing he could see that was wrong was she had a build up of wax in her left ear. He suggested that it was probably irritating her eardrum which was causing her to cough. He recommended that we use a home treatment to try and loosen, thus remove, the wax. Fine, whatever. We tried it for about two weeks, at which point I was tired of making her cry at the end because it hurt...it wasn't supposed to hurt, that was the whole reason why we were doing it at home!!! At her annual check up (last month), that same doctor looked at her again. I reminded him of her "earwax" problem, and told him that she frequently told me that she couldn't hear very well. He looked in her ears again, said the buildup was still there, but the other ear looked fine. I asked if he could remove it, because it had been there for a long time and I obviously couldn't get it out at home. He didn't want to, so he referred us to an ENT Specialist off base. And that appointment was just earlier today. Oh the wonderful things I am feeling right now! The doc looked in one ear. Said that she has quite a buildup of thick fluid behind it. Then looked in the problem ear. She wanted to clean it out so she could see the eardrum. Hmmm Good idea, what I've been suggesting for months now! (She was awesome, I'm just annoyed.) We went into a special room that had a bed and a light so she could look in the ear and use her tools to get the wax out. Guess what she found??? A ROCK!!! Yup, Nat has a "large pebble" in her ear. And because the playgrounds around here don't have rocks, I'm thinking this has been there since this summer when we were at the beach.
Our options were to take it out right then, but it could be painful because of the size...or what we opted for. She wanted Natalie to get tubes put in because of the fluid (by the looks of it, the fluid had been there for quite some time). So, she suggested leaving the rock in until then. Yup, sounded good to me. She's had it in there for at least four months (the fist time I took her in and was told there was nothing going on), another month isn't going to hurt anything too much. Although Nat had a lot of ear infections when she was younger, this will be the first time for tubes. I know its a common procedure, but it will be the first time either of our kids will be "put under."
I'm hoping that she will be able to hear better once the tubes are put in!!! The last few months, especially, I have had to repeat myself over and over to her. Its not just normal kid "what???" stuff, its repeating something when she's standing two feet away, has asked a question, and only heard part of what I said. Maybe this will help her LISTEN when we are talking to her, follow directions better, and probably do better in school!!! (Not that she's doing poorly at all...I just want her to be able to do the best she can!)
I still cannot believe THREE doctors at four appointments didn't notice a buildup of fluid behind one eardrum, and A ROCK IN THE OTHER!!!
In the meantime, I figured I could at least write a little here and there to let people know whats been going on...which as it turns out is not a whole lot.
There are quite a few things that I will do full posts about, with pictures...later.
Roby and I are doing well. Work and school keep us really busy. We were able to go paintballing a couple weekends ago. It was a lot of fun! My legs were extremely sore for about four days from the six hours of hiking, crouching and running around. It was well worth it though!!!
Ethan is doing well. He's doing great in school, but still has a little trouble with his reading. I'm not extremely worried about it because he has had problems since first grade...and we read all the time. He loves reading, so I figure it will "click" eventually. We have finally had a few nice days, so the kids have been able to have outside recess. This helps him get some pent up energy out, and seems to be the best way for him to make friends. He has one really good friend (the one that came to his birthday party--and is spending the night right now), but that's about it. He's such a sweet kid (probably not the term most boys want to hear), and I'm sure by the middle of next year he will have many more friends.
That brings us to Natalie. As of today she has missed 4 1/2 of the last six days of school. From a sore throat, to pink eye (again!!!), coughing, and an itchy rash... I took her in to the doctors on Monday, who said she was fine and didn't have strep throat. Then the rash came, so I took her in today...the doctor was horrible...but he said there was absolutely nothing wrong with her. But, after my persistence and insisting that something was going on, I did get a referral to an allergy specialist for early next month. Because the rash keeps coming and going, I have come to the conclusion that she currently has hives (this is the fourth/fifth time). I gave her an antihistamine earlier, and it seems to be helping a bit. And that brings us to her third doctors appointment this week. Several months ago I took her in because she had a persistent cough. The doc looked in her ears and throat. He said the only thing he could see that was wrong was she had a build up of wax in her left ear. He suggested that it was probably irritating her eardrum which was causing her to cough. He recommended that we use a home treatment to try and loosen, thus remove, the wax. Fine, whatever. We tried it for about two weeks, at which point I was tired of making her cry at the end because it hurt...it wasn't supposed to hurt, that was the whole reason why we were doing it at home!!! At her annual check up (last month), that same doctor looked at her again. I reminded him of her "earwax" problem, and told him that she frequently told me that she couldn't hear very well. He looked in her ears again, said the buildup was still there, but the other ear looked fine. I asked if he could remove it, because it had been there for a long time and I obviously couldn't get it out at home. He didn't want to, so he referred us to an ENT Specialist off base. And that appointment was just earlier today. Oh the wonderful things I am feeling right now! The doc looked in one ear. Said that she has quite a buildup of thick fluid behind it. Then looked in the problem ear. She wanted to clean it out so she could see the eardrum. Hmmm Good idea, what I've been suggesting for months now! (She was awesome, I'm just annoyed.) We went into a special room that had a bed and a light so she could look in the ear and use her tools to get the wax out. Guess what she found??? A ROCK!!! Yup, Nat has a "large pebble" in her ear. And because the playgrounds around here don't have rocks, I'm thinking this has been there since this summer when we were at the beach.
Our options were to take it out right then, but it could be painful because of the size...or what we opted for. She wanted Natalie to get tubes put in because of the fluid (by the looks of it, the fluid had been there for quite some time). So, she suggested leaving the rock in until then. Yup, sounded good to me. She's had it in there for at least four months (the fist time I took her in and was told there was nothing going on), another month isn't going to hurt anything too much. Although Nat had a lot of ear infections when she was younger, this will be the first time for tubes. I know its a common procedure, but it will be the first time either of our kids will be "put under."
I'm hoping that she will be able to hear better once the tubes are put in!!! The last few months, especially, I have had to repeat myself over and over to her. Its not just normal kid "what???" stuff, its repeating something when she's standing two feet away, has asked a question, and only heard part of what I said. Maybe this will help her LISTEN when we are talking to her, follow directions better, and probably do better in school!!! (Not that she's doing poorly at all...I just want her to be able to do the best she can!)
I still cannot believe THREE doctors at four appointments didn't notice a buildup of fluid behind one eardrum, and A ROCK IN THE OTHER!!!
5 comments:
Elissa, This is Auntie Deena! :) Benjamin had the bad build-up of fluid in his ears when he was 3. He had to have the tube surgery then as well. It was like a different kid after the surgery! He could HEAR! I had to yell for him to hear me before!
A little warning: Right after the surgery the ears are VERY sensitive (you probably know this, but just go ahead and roll your eyes and read on! ;) ). So make sure the radio and other things are turned way down on your way home from the surgery! Hope it goes well!
Love you....
I'm sorry it took so many docs to figure out the problem. Andrew has done the tubes 2 times now. Make sure you have a few washcloths on hand that you don't mind getting nasty, cause the fluid will be all over the place for a few days after they are done.
As far as helping her to hear better, tubes brought Andrew back from being almost completely deaf TWICE, so I am sure it will really help her!
Sound like an Air Force Doc to me.
Glad you finally got refrred to someone who knows what there doing.
Nick
I do hope Nat feels better soon and that the tubes do the job. Poor baby.
Good GOD!!! HMMMPH!!!
Iam glad YOU got it figured out!!!
way to go LIS:)
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