So, when your kid is seems to ignore you with that way that they do when they are tired; instead of yelling "Can you hear me now?!" it might be worth while to take them into an audiologist. Turns out Padon can't hear low octives, really at all, but can hear high ones (tested by pediatrician). He had a whole talking conversation with Walter, while Walter mouthed his questions without making a sound; obviously reading Walter's lips. Crazy business! Initially Walter and I were very concerned that Padon might be deaf with a great gift to read lips but then he started questioning why we were testing him on whether he could hear us or not. So he could hear. We scheduled a doctor's appointment with an audiologist, per recommendation of his Pediatrician, and with their specialized equipment learned that Padon hears high octives like he has ear plugs in his ears and low octives like he has two ear plugs in each of his ears. When they did a puff of air on his ear drums, it should have registered as a spike on the graph, instead there was a flat line, meaning his ear drums didn't register it at all. The reason- too much fluid. His inner-ear registers fine; sound just can't get to them. Solution - ear tubes. And it also turns out that Padon's tonsils are very large and his throat small because of them. So large that the doc thinks he probably has sleep apnea and recommended we watch him for a couple weeks. When we go back for a pre-consultation for the ear tubes we will decide whether we will have his tonsils and adnoids also taken out. Wow! I'm a parent!
Follow up: Walter and I decided after watching Padon that he didn't seem to really show the signs of true sleep apnea. He snores like any small child we have seen and he isn't hard to work with or be around. He has always been an easy to please kid and one who always wants to please. Plus taking out his tonsils would have been a big surgery followed by pain and a lot of discomfort for a week or two. We decided we would wait and watch him but still have the ear tubes put in and his adnoids taken out. We scheduled his surgery and the morning of dropped Sophia off at school. Padon, with his Lightening McQueen Christmas Pajamas on, happily went tearing around the corner of the Surgery Center in Mount Vernon excited for his impending surgery. That's my Padon! He missed the slight incline to the door however and tripped falling hard into the pavement. It scratched up his hands and bloodied his knee. He came crying into the center, where the nurses thought he was crying about the surgery, but after learning that he was crying because he had tripped coming in and because he was so excited they laughed too, and smiled and offered him a spiderman bandaid. Again tickled that he was in the Surgery Center with all attention on him it was really hard to get Padon to sit still on the gurney and to listen the the instructions that the nurse was giving us. They removed Padon's shirt, had him putt on a kid size hospital gown, put a thermometer sticker on Padon's forehead, put grippy socks on his feet, took his blood preassure, and took his picture to remember the event. Finally the Surgeon came in and introduced himself to Padon. And then totally impressed me by noticing Padon's blanket and without asking picked it up as he welcomed Padon to follow him, two of the nurses and the anestisologist. Padon happily got off the gurney, took Dr. Riley's hand, and they walked away down the hall. It broke my heart to see him looking so small, his hand looking tiny in Dr. Riley's hand, and Padon so trusting of the people who were about to operate on him that he didn't even need to say goodbye or be reassured.
During the next 45 minutes of Padon's surgery one of the nurses hung behind and talked to us about the surgery and what to expect after. She said that children's brains become really dissoriented as they come out of anestitia and that it often causes them to cry, scream, yell, hit, and thrash about. Walter was worried and I felt that sense of calm that I get when extreme situations arise, like when we discovered Padon had a 105.5 degree temperature when he had Rosiola Fantasma. I just said O.K., feeling that I would just cross that bridge when I came to it. She also warned us not to let Padon play vigorous sports because the hightened blood pressure could cause the insistions in his ears to bleed. About this time they wheeled Padon in.
He was still out but it was a matter of seconds before he started to stir and right away he started to move about like he really wanted to get up but couldn't. He had an IV in his arm that they said didn't hurt him but I don't doubt if it wasn't very uncomfortable. Instead of a straight needle it was a plastic tube but he was bandaged up pretty well and beside calling and calling and calling for me, his eyse unable to open, he was pretty pissed that the nurses and Walter were holding him down. I was hoping that I would get to hold Padon, as my Mother had held me when I had had my ear tubes put in, but as Padon thrashed around, sobbing, and trying to clutch at the bandages on his arms I could see why it was best to keep him on the bed with the railings up. Walter and I did our best to pet him, hug him, kiss him on the face and head, telling him again and again that were there and that we loved him. Finally Padon came too completely but the anger about being bandaged and attached to an IV didn't. The nurse wanted to be sure that were she to need to put Padon back under she could still give him a quick injection and he needed to be able to eat a popsicle before they could let him go. The cold syrup of the popsicle helped his stomach also wake up from the anestisia and while he typically would have been all over the idea of a popsicle he wasn't having it now. He adementally refused which surprised the nurse. She then made a deal with Padon; that he needed to eat just half of the popsicle and she would take the IV out. Padon took a little bit and she showed him how much more he had to go. With his fists clenched down at his side, face bright red from frustratedly growling (I wondered if his ears would bleed per the conversation with the nurse) he took one angry look at her and ate the whole popsicle in three bites, down to the part she had marked. We were all a little bug-eyed at that and wondered if he wouldn't get brain freeze. Keeping up to her end of the bargin the nurse removed the IV, put a compression bandaid on his arm and we helped Padon put his PJ shirt back on. We got the 'what to do after the surgery' paper work and Walter carried Padon out. Padon just sobbed on Walter's shoulder and just about all the way home. We got to Stanwood before he finally fell asleep, and when home we all climbed in bed and napped together for a couple hours until Walter got up for an appointment and I got up to make the snacks that Padon and I had bought at the store the day before.
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Padon slept for 5 hours which gave me plenty of time to make the jello and pudding he had chosen (surprisingly unenthusiastic flavors: chocolate pudding and cherry and orange jello). He woke up cheerful, free of pain from his ear tubes and adnoids (supposedly adnoids don't have any nerves and Dr. Riley said he was glad to have taken them out because they had been very large and were a big reason to why Padon's ears had not been draining) and he said that thing seemed loud but that his head didn't hurt, just his knee (from falling). He was a little subdued all day but for the most part back to himself.
Padon layed on the couch and ate yogurt, pudding, and jello, and over all had a feast of soft and easy to eat food. It was surprisingly anti-climactic. Walter and I had built up in our heads how big this surgery was going to be with the tonsils and I had taken the whole day off work to be there for Padon, anticipating a day long snuggle while he cried in discomfort on my shoulder. Happily he wasn't uncomfortable and he didn't need me. I gave him one extra dose of Ibuprophin, also having bought a new bottle of Tylenol and Ibuprophin, but past that one dose he never needed anything else again. I wondered to myself if I had blown it out of proportion but thought that it was better that I be prepared then not prepared enough. My Mom had not been informed to what the Ear Tube Surgery might be like in the end and she was shocked by the tears. It was a smooth procedure, for Padon, and one that I think he won't have too many bad memories about
I hope that if Sophia has to have Ear Tubes that it goes as successfully for her. With Walter and my history of ear tubes, and now Padon, she probably will be getting them.
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