Post Op Note for Sammy

Sammy’s surgery went really well. As we could tell from the hearing test results being so bad for his right ear, it had a lot more sticky junk in it than his left. Both were suctioned out and should continue to clear over the next month with the tubes allowing drainage. The surgeon said Sammy’s adenoids were very large, which may account for his lifelong mouth breathing as well as the collection of germs and fluid buildup in his ears.

The day today went well … Sammy was an incredibly cooperative gentleman going into the surgery. As was the case with his first surgery … waking up was the difficult part. Normally Sammy is rather quiet about his unhappiness … he’ll withdraw and shut down outwardly as opposed to throwing a noisy fit (well, not always, but he’s certainly not a rager). Sometimes I don’t even realize he’s unhappy until I’ve noticed him sitting quietly in a secluded area for quite some time looking down or with his eyes closed. I will say the mirror of his typical personality comes out when he is waking up from anesthesia. Sammy was raging with fury and passing out over and over in cycles. Each time he passed out I prayed he could sleep for awhile, but he kept waking up crying after only a few minutes and trying to pull the IV out of his arm and the O2 meter off of his toe. Finally he fell asleep and slept soundly in my arms for a good hour (so sweet). When the nurses came by and asked periodically if I wanted them to wake him up I said “please NO … let him sleep!” After his long siesta he was back to his normal sweet self … groggy, and still shy with the nurses, but not in a drug induced rage.

Sammy will have another hearing test in a month because his hearing is so bad right now. Sammy already said to me in the car without me asking him “my ears sound different than they did last night.” Yay! We barely had 30 minutes at home to scarf down some food before having to pick Johnny up from school. Sammy hadn’t eaten since last night so by 2pm he hungrily ate the soft food I served him and was asking for some “real” food. I think we have a great surgeon and I pray that Sammy’s has no more recurrences of hearing loss and that he will be able to breathe through his nose easily for the first time ever!

Thank you all for your loving prayers of peace and healing. That means so much to us!

Sammy - Hearing Update

Prince SammyEnjoying a beautiful day

Sammy playing in our sandboxLooking a little apprehensive inside of a Fire Engine
Saying grace
Eating a snack with Sammy at preschool
Being silly

Results of Sammy's latest hearing test showing the decibels & frequenciesThis graph shows flexibility of eardrum - or lack of

Sammy has been having a great year and adjusting to preschool very well. He has two great teachers and we really love his school. Sammy is still quite shy and hasn't really made any friends at school. When I ask him if he has any friends he says "no" and when I ask him who he plays with at school he says "myself." He was born with a more socially timid personality and that's fine. I don't pressure him to try to be someone other than who he is, but I do encourage him and praise him when he does speak up or interact with other people. Sammy and Johnny have been getting along really well with each other and have reached a new level of sweetness and friendship. I'm relishing this phase while it lasts.

Sammy's hearing has become a problem again and he is scheduled for surgery on November 20th. He had tubes put in his ears when he was about 19 months old the first time and achieved normal hearing for the first time in his life about 2 months after that surgery. The tubes lasted a really long time and he enjoyed normal hearing during that time. At the beginning of this summer I took him to the ENT for a check up and found that both tubes were out and his right ear was full of fluid. His left eardrum had a hole in it from the old tube and so it was not building fluid. The ENT wanted to see if the fluid would resolve itself over the summer so I brought him in for another check up at the end of summer with a hearing test. The right ear was still full of fluid and the left eardrum still had a hole but his hearing test showed a normal result on both sides. Being an observant and sharp little kid, I think Sammy outsmarted the audiologist a bit and was watching her mouth for cues during the hearing test. The plan was to return for another checkup in 4 months unless he had problems sooner.

Sammy's preschool teacher noticed that Sammy was having trouble hearing and not responding to verbal instructions with the rest of the class. So I did my own test at home and would plug one ear at a time and ask him questions while positioning my head so he couldn't see my mouth. It was immediately obvious to me that he had lost a lot of his hearing in his right ear. Back to the ENT for another hearing test and this time I asked the audiologist ahead of time to perform the test in such a way that Sammy couldn't outsmart it by reading his lips or watching his mouth to know when to drop the bears in the bucket. The test showed that his hearing in his right ear was noteably impaired and mildly impaired in the left. The top graph above shows how loud each frequency needed to be before Sammy could hear it. In a child Sammy's age, normal hearing is usually about 5dB (according to the audiologist) meaning that they can hear sounds as quiet as 5dB. In his right ear at low, medium and high speech range frequencies, Sammy could only hear sounds as loud as 55, 35 and 50dB. That's not very good. Sammy's left ear had better hearing at 30, 10 & 15dB, but still didn't show normal hearing. The other part of the bad news is that the hole his left eardrum had healed up since the previous visit and fluid was building up in his left ear too. You can see where that is going ... with time, he'd probably get more hearing loss in his left ear as the fluid sat in there and thickened. Sammy's right eardrum is currently retracted (meaning sucked in by vacuum) which if left untreated could permanently damage his delicate ear bones.

The second graph shows the flexibility of both of his eardrums. A bell curve is the desired result as a puff of air pushes the eardrum in. As with every test before, Sammy's lines are flat as a pancake in both ears showing zero flexibility, presumably from fluid buildup. So, I got him in as soon as possible on a cancellation appointment and he will be getting tubes put in both ears, plus have his adenoids removed. The adenoid removal is supposed to decrease his chances of having to have a 3rd ear tube surgery by 50%. Another benefit is that it may reduce or eliminate his mouth breathing. Sammy's mouth seems to be hanging open most of the time whether he's awake or asleep as he seems to have trouble breathing through his nose. It would be a great added bonus if that were fixed too!

So, please keep Sammy in your prayers that he will have a successful surgery with no complications and will have the best possible results.

Johnny's Playing Baseball

Johnny's first baseball practiceJohnny "walking" the bases since he had walking pneumonia
Go team!Johnny up to bat
Johnny's leap into a slideHe loves sliding into home
Playing in the outfield
Running after a ball
Sammy was a great sport at all the games

I signed Johnny up to play machine pitch baseball this Fall which was his first experience in playing any team sports outside of school. Johnny and I have played a lot together in the back yard taking turns pitching the ball to each other and I noticed he seemed to have a natural talent for hitting the ball. I wasn't sure if he was ready for machine pitch baseball since he never played teeball, so I took him to a batting cage for a 15 minute session to see how he would do. Johnny did great so I signed him up and he had a great season! Well, great except for being sick the entire season. Johnny played one or two games and then had to miss 4 in a row. He started the season with walking pneumonia and got strep throat and a virus shortly after. I am extremely proud of Johnny and think he did really well. For all the games he played in (5 or 6) getting up to bat 2 - 3 times per game, he only struck out one time! I would love to see him continue playing baseball, although due to league regulations he'll have to play teeball this Spring and could then play machine pitch baseball in the following seasons.

Halloween 2008

Check out that enthusiasm!My supermenThis was one of Sammy's favorite rooms

Trick-or-treating has never been terrific for us in past years. It's okay, but some of the neighbors displays are really too scary for the kids. This year we went to a festival instead and it was truly fantastic! The boys enjoyed lots of fun activities and carnival style games in a safe and non-scary environment. The room full of moonwalks and giant slides was a favorite for sure. Many of the carnival games were a little challenging for Sammy, but he had a blast in the rooms geared toward younger kids ... like the room full of beach balls where kids could run and kick balls to their heart's content. We all had a great time!

County Fair

This pair won Grand Champion of cuteness! (The judge was biased)

Sammy loved the carnival rides

We went to the fair again this year, but this time we went to the parade first that starts in the morning. We got to see lots of cool cars and horses and marching bands. It was crowded but fun! We checked out the animals and exhibits, but as usual the boys had the most fun on the carnival rides. It's crazy how expensive it is, so we really had to limit the number of rides they could go on. We went with a lot of good friends, but this year just didn't seem to have the same appeal as last year. The food and drinks were awful and everything was overpriced. We still had fun and I'm sure we'll go again, but I'd love to find a fair more like the Del Mar fair with LOTS more to do for your money.

Johnny's 6th Birthday Party

Johnny's friend gave him a baseball mittJohnny loved this snorkel and mask!
Spiderman/Superman cake
Johnny winning one of the Spiderman Webwalk prizes

We had Johnny's 6th birthday party at our neighborhood pool and rented the attached building to escape the heat and have some games and dessert. Johnny is blessed with a lot of really great friends and it is so hard for him to limit the number of friends he can invite. After swimming in the pool and eating lunch, we went inside the little building at the pool for games of Spiderman webwalk, and two games of pin the emblem on the superhero. After opening presents and playing inside with all the balloons on the floor, we went back out to the swimming pool and swam until everyone was tired. It was a great party and Johnny had a lot of fun!