Tonsils and Adenoids and Tubes, Oh my!

I think it's ironic that we seem to spend half of our life in doctor's offices. After all, I don't like to take medicine and have always wondered about people who are on so much medication. Now, here I am with two special needs children who have their own types of medication regimens, in addition to the occasional medicine that has to be taken by the rest of us. We eat healthy, take vitamins, go to the chiropractor regularly, and use natural remedies whenever possible. However, even with all of that, sometimes you can only let things so far before you have to take other measures.

For the past year or so, we have noticed that Megan breathes loudly when she sleeps (so loud we can hear her through her door and down the hall), and often snores. For the past six months, she has crawled into bed with us more and more often, which to me, was a sign that something was off. None of our children have ever slept with us on a regular basis.....I could probably count on two hands the times any of our children have slept with us, and never on a regular basis. After thinking about it, I started to wonder if her breathing/snoring was waking her up in her sleep, and once he woke up, she came to bed with us because she wasn't sure what else to do. To make matters worse, my normally "sunshiney" girl has been an absolute grump and seems tired all the time. After discussing the issue with her pediatrician, he agreed and sent her to the ENT.  To make a long story short, we tried lots of different stuff, nothing worked, her snoring is getting worse, so she is having her tonsils and adenoids out on December 6th. Her tonsils are only about 1/2" away from each other on a regular basis. If she is sick, there is no space at all. The bottom line is that it is not good for a "normal" person to suffer sleep disturbances, but when you throw Megan's Aortic Stenosis into the mix, we just can't play around with this anymore. Am I happy about it? No. Do I think it's the right thing at this point in time? Yes.

If you remember, Clara failed her hearing test at her 5 year-old check-up. After the audiologist at the ENT's office did an in-depth hearing test on her, it was confirmed that she has hearing loss in her right ear. Thankfully, the ENT does not believe it is Mito related (thank you, Lord) and is reversible. She believes the problem is just a back-up of fluid in her Eustachian tube because anatomically, her Eustachian tube has not straightened out like it normally would because she is not growing....at all. She is the same height she was over a year ago. SO, again, we have tried a number of things, but at this morning's visit, both of Clara's ears looked "unhealthy" and tests confirmed that her ear drums are "flat" due to fluid build up. She prescribed one more antibiotic, and if her ears aren't better by the time we go to Megan's post-surgery visit, Clara will have her 2nd set of tubes, and hopefully, we will get it in by the end of the year. Again, is that the outcome I wanted? No. Have we done all we can? I definitely think so. Hopefully these things will ultimately make them healthier.

On a little lighter note, when Clara was doing her hearing test, they put her in this big booth with big thick doors, and the audiologist sat on the other side of the window in a separate booth. At one point he came out of his booth laughing. In my mind I thought, "Oh, brother....what did she say?" (With Clara, you just never know). He laughed and said she that she was doing great, but at one point, as he lowered the volume (and, obviously, didn't tell her), she looked up at him and said, "It's getting lower, ya know." Maybe you had to be there, but I was so tickled at that. That is SO Clara.

I am doing better, but I am still struggling with exhaustion. Just when I think I am all better, it hits again. I am trying very hard to prioritize and only do what's important so I have my energy when I need it. Thankfully, we are not having Thanksgiving at our house (even though that was the original plan), so tomorrow will just be FUN!!

Our family seems to be in a time of testing right now, and we would appreciate your prayers. I know that testing produces a greater and deeper faith, but in the midst of it, it is no fun, and right now, I feel like I am at the breaking point. There are lots of things going on that I am not at liberty to talk about here, but add to it all the other stuff....sickness, life, and just stuff, ....well, we have all been there at some point. We are still missing Lucy TERRIBLY. I know it sounds petty in light of everything else and there are bigger problems in the world, but I feel like one of my children is living somewhere else. To make it harder, she is not where we can visit her anymore, and through no choice of my own, we were not able to see her before she left her foster home. Again, that's not all of it, but it certainly doesn't help. We love that girl so, so much.

We are hoping to get our ministry letter out in the next week, so if you would like to be on our mailing list, please send your address to my e-mail address. If you are on our list, but your address has changed, please send me that, too.

I pray you all have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! There is so much for which to be thankful, and while we should be thankful all year, I think it is wonderful that we have a day set aside, just for that purpose!!

Many Blessings!
Jeannie