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Tuesday, March 03, 2009

The Surgery Results are In

At the beginning of January my younger son (YS) had his adenoids and tonsils removed because he was having difficulty gaining weight. Today was our his big appointment. Yes, he had been seen a couple weeks after the surgery by the ENT to make sure the everything had healed correctly, but today was the appointment with the pediatrician to check his height and weight. While, he only gained a pound, he grew two whole inches. I almost started crying. The ENT had predicted that if the adenoids were stunting his growth, we would see an immediate growth spurt. The pediatrican is predicting that we have about 6 months left of weight and height checks (really 2 every 3 months appointments) and then he should be caught up to where he's supposed to be if that makes sense. Even if he hadn't grown so much, the surgery would have still been worth it just because he no longer snores and is much better rested in the mornings.

However, there's been something nagging at me since YS had his surgery. As soon as he came out of the surgery and began speaking, I realized I couldn't understand him. It was like the teacher in Charlie Brown except YS talked like the teacher. The ENT said it was a side effect of the surgery and should go away with time. For the most part it did, but it seemed like there was a touch of it still there. I asked the ENT about it at the follow up appointment and was told that again, everything was still swollen, but that sometimes kids and adults do need speech therapy after the surgery because of the space that is left from the adenoids removal (the palette is supposed to move up and close but it sometimes doesn't) or the mouth just feeling differently. YS also sounds very different. He no longer sounds nasally or like Ray Ramano. Many friends and family have commented on it. I can't tell if I just am not used to his new voice or if there really is a slight garble at the end of his words like he's slurring the letters slightly. The Big Giraffe can't understand anyone under the age of 4, (some days I think perhaps he would like to say under 30) so he's no help and generally I can't understand what anyone's kids say. I think I'll stick to veterinary medicine and not pediatrics!

The pediatrican listened to YS speak as he identified the little sea creature toys he had with him. She was very impressed by his vocubalary and how he could spot the differences between different types of sharks and whales. However, she also could hear a little of the garble and while she thought it was within normal, she recommended having a speech evaluation just in case, particularly since this didn't start until after the surgery.

The pediatrician did warn me that it is difficult to evaluate your child's speech because kids' speech is not in context. Children thus may be hard to understand because they don't make sense, even if they are speaking clearly. This is caused by jumping from non-sequitur to non-sequitur. I immediately thought of my grandmother. I had a hard time understanding what she was saying when she got older, but then again she would say things like, "I bought milk at the Egg store. That tornado was terrible." Really they were two separate thoughts, but when presented like that I thought I just didn't hear her right. I could totally understand what the pediatrician was saying.

I've written many posts on my feelings about Early Intervention from when my older son (OS) had speech therapy, so I don't think anyone will be surprised that my intial reaction was "Holy $&*#$#$^$ on wheels!" I decided to keep that to myself, if there is really and truly a problem, I obviously do want him to get help. The pediatrician did say that if there is a problem, then it is very minor and something that would only take a couple months to resolve. This is good because he only has 4 months before he turns 3 and then would have to go through the public school system to receive services. As my aunt said, a little bit of speech therapy can go a long way.

In the meantime, YS is still on his high calorie diet and basically raiding our pantry and cabinets a good portion of his waking hours (and I do mean that literally as I have found him going through the boxes in our pantry). Overall, a fabulous day. Of course it would have been better if the pediatrician had looked at me and recommended that I too be put on a high calorie diet, but that didn't happen.

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Context breeds understanding, so ukelele.

Labels:

posted by Alex Elliot @ 5:44 PM   5 comments
5 Comments:

  • At 3/04/2009 12:30 AM, Blogger Ted and/or Laura said…

    yay for the good result.

     

  • At 3/04/2009 11:30 AM, Blogger Goddess in Progress said…

    I'm so glad to hear he's well on the mend, and I'm sure the speech problems will get resolved quickly. Hooray for a growing boy!

     

  • At 3/04/2009 7:04 PM, Blogger Heather said…

    I'm interested to hear what my daughter will sound like in a couple of weeks.

    Glad that he is doing well and growing! I never heard of that about the adenoids before. I hope my daughter doesn't go on a big growth spurt now...she's already really tall!

     

  • At 3/04/2009 7:19 PM, Blogger Kami said…

    Yay, yay, yay! So glad you had such a good outcome health wise and the speech issue sounds like it will be sorted out ASAP :)

    so happy to hear this!

     

  • At 3/11/2009 5:34 PM, Blogger skiplovey said…

    So glad to hear he's gaining weight and growing. Hopefully the speech issue will resolve easily and quickly.
    And yeah, wish I could get put on a high calorie diet too. A friend of mine is trying to gain weight and says she's "too lazy" to make special foods. Can you believe that? Who's too lazy to make fattening foods?

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.

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