shannon

oh, my sweet little girl is in for a fun time!

she's had near constant ear infections and sinus infections for the last 2 months. about a week of the antibiotics, and we're back in for another dose. rather than wait for things to get progressively worse, i asked for a referral to the ent. her appointment was this morning.

at her appointment, he noticed 4 things.
first of all, her ears looked good, but she did have fluid behind the ear drums. it wasn't infected because she's still on her round of antibiotics from the last ear infection. however, that means that her Eustachian tubes, aren't working (that's the tube between the ears and the throat). he informed me that when fluid is new, it's clear and very liquid. when it's old, it's thick, stringy, and amber colored. her fluid looks old. he said it's probably been there 8-12 weeks. which is when her first infection showed up.
second, he said her nose doesn't show any irritation that would indicate allergies. YAY!
then, her breathing. she breathes through her mouth, not her nose. he said, if i watched her while she slept, i would most likely notice that she sleeps with her head way back. when he said that, i remembered that i often find her sleeping like that. he also said, that when that's the case, if the head tips forward and blocks off the airway, they wake up and toss and turn. (ninja shannon)
finally, he looked at her throat. the grade tonsils from 0 to 4. 0 being not there at all. 4 being they touch in back. hers are at a 3. they are right up to the sides of the uvula (the dangly thing in the back of your throat). he said, typically with little kids, if the tonsils are enlarged, the adenoids are as well. he said he was willing to bet that the enlarged adenoids are what's causing the eustachian tubes to not work.

next thursday, shannon goes in and gets tubes in her ears, and her tonsils and adenoids removed. it's going to be a long day!