The season for surgery

Lately, Lukas has been suffering of all kinds of health issues. It started with strep throat a few months ago and he has gotten a myriad of things since then. He's currently recovering from the stomach flu where he upchucked almost everything that went into him for about four days. His pediatrician said when the immune system is taxed, like with strep throat, then kids can keep getting sick until the immune system can catch up, and that's all he said about it. That may be true, but now I know better than to believe everything doctors say.

In the midst of all his recent sicknesses, I noticed one of his tonsils was huge. I didn't think anything of it for a while, thinking it would go back down after his immune system "caught back up". It never did, and in fact, his other tonsil started growing too. When I looked into his mouth last week, they were so big he barely had room in the back of his throat.

I began doing some research on enlarged tonsils and that's when I came to the conclusion that he needed to get them looked at. He gags on his food quite often, he coughs a lot, he snores, he's had a runny nose for a while now, ear infections, eye infections, bad breath, and more. I had other excuses for all those things and considered them all separate instances, but then I began to think maybe they were all related somehow.

So, after getting a referral from his doctor, we went to the ENT doctor today. He looked at Lukas' mouth, in his ears, and up his nose, and felt around a bit. He asked a lot of questions about how Lukas was eating, sleeping, breathing, and feeling, and commented on how big his tonsils were. They use a scale of 0-4, 0 being the smallest and 4 being the biggest where the tonsils are touching each other. Lukas' were classified as a three. I learned that when tonsils are huge, the adenoids are most likely enlarged as well, and enlarged adenoids can press against the tubes behind the ears (I don't remember the actual name) not allowing them to drain properly. Apparently, Lukas has a lot of gunky fluid behind his eardrums that the doctor said had been there a while based on the color of the fluid. So he tested his ears. We learned that his eardrums were not vibrating normally and that fluid was causing Lukas to not be able to hear very well. The doctor said it's as if Lukas is walking around with his fingers stuck in his ears. Life is muffled for him. Poor kid. The fact that his ears aren't draining also plays a part in all the infections he's been getting so they are all related, except for the stomach flu perhaps.

Now we know. Apparently pediatricians are supposed to be able to tell if there is a lot of fluid behind the eardrum, but no doctor ever said anything to me so I had no idea. I had to take Lukas in to his pediatrician specifically for his tonsils before they would give me a referral. They had looked in his ears and throat so many times over the past few months and I'm a little peeved that they always told me everything looks fine. But, whatever. We are getting it taken care of now.

The only bad thing about knowing now is the surgery that Lukas will have to endure in a few weeks. He will be getting both his tonsils and adenoids out, as well as tubes put in his ears to help fluid drain better. But hopefully after all this is over with, Lukas won't suffer anymore from walking around like he's got ear muffs on, have as many stuffy head colds and ear and eye infections, and have his gag reflex worked out so much.

I really hate the idea of my little two year old boy being put through something like this surgery, and the thought of it can bring me to near tears if I let it. It scares me, even though it's such a minor thing. I felt the same way about Jeriah being put under to get a crown on his tooth. I am not looking forward to the crying, the suffering, the pain, the waking up from anesthesia, etc. But, I know it's for the best so I will be a big girl.