This past Tuesday, I took Caleb and Piper back to our beloved ENT for Piper's post-op check up and Caleb's 6 month follow up for another hearing test.
Piper came back completely fine and looking good. Her tubes were still in place and in good position, just in time for ear infection season to start. We are all hoping and confident that she will be spared this year. We all feel like she should be, seeing as she has had countless ear and sinus infections in her short 3 years of life!
Caleb was scheduled to take another hearing test. You'll remember that 6 months ago, he failed a basic one at his pediatrician's office and then was found to have a documented hearing loss in his left ear. The theory was that if it stayed the same, then it was likely a variety of events that caused the loss. However, if it worsened over that time period, it would be attributed to a genetic, degenerative condition that would result in a hearing aide for Caleb.
Basically, the test results came back that his hearing loss is static, has not changed significantly. Our doctor just recommended that he sit in the front of the classroom at school (not a problem) and that we retest in 1 year.
I've asked a variety of times what could have caused this and no one really knows. What they do know is that Caleb was exposed to some treatments in the NICU that causes hearing loss, that he did have some middle ear fluid at various times his first few years of life, and that it could be totally spontaneous.
Caleb has always had trouble with hearing tests, failing the first time in the NICU, but they had always been able to retest and get a satisfactory reading. So, we don't really know where this is going or if it will ever get worse, so we will just watch and see. I have to say, that we are really in the best hands, if it were to get worse and he needed further treatment!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Surgery Results
Friday was Piper's adenoid removal and tube insertion.
Both went well, but she did not handle the anesthesia as easily as hoped. Her brother never had any issues from being sedated, so we were hoping that she would follow in his footsteps. It just wasn't meant to be.
Piper was very difficult to wake up, had some GI issues, acquired some "junk" in her lungs, and has been cranky, irritable, emotional and clingy since. She is better during the day, but spent last night crying out in her sleep, tossing and turning and not sleeping well in general.
I know all this will pass, so that makes this all easier, but boy is this mama tired!
Our doctor did tell me that her adenoids were a mess and likely the cause of all her issues these past years. One of the first things he said to me was that it was the right decision to take those right out since they were so "soupy" (his word, not mine).
Anyway, I'm glad it's all over. She didn't freak out too much but she did melt down a bit in the OR. I'm just glad they didn't have to rip her from my arms, screaming and crying. She was very brave, but certainly not in a rush to go back and do it all again! Neither am I.
Both went well, but she did not handle the anesthesia as easily as hoped. Her brother never had any issues from being sedated, so we were hoping that she would follow in his footsteps. It just wasn't meant to be.
Piper was very difficult to wake up, had some GI issues, acquired some "junk" in her lungs, and has been cranky, irritable, emotional and clingy since. She is better during the day, but spent last night crying out in her sleep, tossing and turning and not sleeping well in general.
I know all this will pass, so that makes this all easier, but boy is this mama tired!
Our doctor did tell me that her adenoids were a mess and likely the cause of all her issues these past years. One of the first things he said to me was that it was the right decision to take those right out since they were so "soupy" (his word, not mine).
Anyway, I'm glad it's all over. She didn't freak out too much but she did melt down a bit in the OR. I'm just glad they didn't have to rip her from my arms, screaming and crying. She was very brave, but certainly not in a rush to go back and do it all again! Neither am I.
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Surgery for Piper
Since birth, Piper has been struggling with, first sinus infections and, now, ear infections. In fact, we have reached the point that if she were to have another ear infection, we would have to go the route of giving her a series of antibiotic shots (Rocephin), that are super painful and, frankly, don't really work.
Our nurse practitioner is also a bit concerned about her ending up with a bacterial infection that is resistant to all antibiotics. I also do not like the idea of my 3 year old being on antibiotics so much and have tried just about every homeopathic treatment, etc that is out there and she still keeps having ear infections.
So, I went ahead and made an appointment with our fabulous ENT, the same ENT who did my surgery last year. This also the same doctor, if you don't remember, who treated Caleb in the NICU 6 years ago and was the only doctor who was able to figure out what was going on with him. Needless to say, I trust him implicitly!
Our doctor agreed that something needed to be done to help Piper get through this developmental speed bump, but was adamant that she was ahead of where most 3 years olds are with regard to intellect and speech. This means that whatever issues she may have with her ears, it hasn't affected her speech or ability to recall information, so it's just getting rid of the fluid.
So, tomorrow, at 5:00 in the morning, I'll be pulling both kids out of bed and putting them into the car. We will drive down to the very same surgical center where I had my surgery (super nice facility!) and Piper will have her adenoids taken out and tubes put in her ears. I'm nervous, but so glad that this will be taken care of and she'll have no more ear issues. I'm a little nervous, but so ready for my baby girl to be healthy!
Our nurse practitioner is also a bit concerned about her ending up with a bacterial infection that is resistant to all antibiotics. I also do not like the idea of my 3 year old being on antibiotics so much and have tried just about every homeopathic treatment, etc that is out there and she still keeps having ear infections.
So, I went ahead and made an appointment with our fabulous ENT, the same ENT who did my surgery last year. This also the same doctor, if you don't remember, who treated Caleb in the NICU 6 years ago and was the only doctor who was able to figure out what was going on with him. Needless to say, I trust him implicitly!
Our doctor agreed that something needed to be done to help Piper get through this developmental speed bump, but was adamant that she was ahead of where most 3 years olds are with regard to intellect and speech. This means that whatever issues she may have with her ears, it hasn't affected her speech or ability to recall information, so it's just getting rid of the fluid.
So, tomorrow, at 5:00 in the morning, I'll be pulling both kids out of bed and putting them into the car. We will drive down to the very same surgical center where I had my surgery (super nice facility!) and Piper will have her adenoids taken out and tubes put in her ears. I'm nervous, but so glad that this will be taken care of and she'll have no more ear issues. I'm a little nervous, but so ready for my baby girl to be healthy!
Sunday, October 02, 2011
Job Changes
For nearly 4 years, Jes has been employed at the same company. We've become comfortable there, but Jes hasn't been happy. He's had some negative experiences with someone that he works with, so he's been looking for a new position for months.
Early on in our marriage and his career (they both began simutaneously), he moved around between companies quite a lot. Most of this happened because of one event, September 11th. Since he makes his living in the aircraft industry, we were a casualty of war, so to speak.
Because of all this moving around, Jes was able to gain a huge amount of experience on a huge number of aircraft. So, when his resume ends up on a website, he will literally have many offers from companies without them even meeting him.
The past few months, in his looking for a new job, he's been offered quite a few positions but none of them were what he was looking for, didn't have insurance (a must for us), or would be a huge pay cut.
Last year, nearly exactly a year ago, Jes began the process of interviewing for a job that was government driven and would take him to Afghanistan for a year. The money would have been good, but the living without him for 365 days would have been very difficult.
Then, he found what we thought would be a marvelous opportunity with a man who owns a company about an hour north of us, but part of his year would have been spent in New Zealand. Due to the nature of business he works in, we thought that it would be inevitable that he spend part of his time in another country.
With this last job, he was offered a position and then the stock market crashed. All the investors backed out and we were again playing the waiting game.
The owner of this company new that Jes was just dying to get out of the company he was in and it seems knew that his opportunities were taking a significant amount of time, time we really didn't have or want to wait out, so he heard of another opportunity. He called Jes two Fridays ago and let him know about it and gave him a phone number to call.
Jes called the owner of this new company and the owner was very interested in seeing his resume. Jes got all that together and sent it to him 11pm Saturday night, got a call at 11am Sunday, had an interview on Monday and was offered a position on the spot.
This job is local, pays very well (it will give us a raise!), will have insurance shortly and is management.
This whole job change makes me super nervous, but looking back at all the events that have led us to this point have been clear pointers that those other jobs are not the ones for us. All the events of this job have fallen into place and seem to be a good fit for our family.
Early on in our marriage and his career (they both began simutaneously), he moved around between companies quite a lot. Most of this happened because of one event, September 11th. Since he makes his living in the aircraft industry, we were a casualty of war, so to speak.
Because of all this moving around, Jes was able to gain a huge amount of experience on a huge number of aircraft. So, when his resume ends up on a website, he will literally have many offers from companies without them even meeting him.
The past few months, in his looking for a new job, he's been offered quite a few positions but none of them were what he was looking for, didn't have insurance (a must for us), or would be a huge pay cut.
Last year, nearly exactly a year ago, Jes began the process of interviewing for a job that was government driven and would take him to Afghanistan for a year. The money would have been good, but the living without him for 365 days would have been very difficult.
Then, he found what we thought would be a marvelous opportunity with a man who owns a company about an hour north of us, but part of his year would have been spent in New Zealand. Due to the nature of business he works in, we thought that it would be inevitable that he spend part of his time in another country.
With this last job, he was offered a position and then the stock market crashed. All the investors backed out and we were again playing the waiting game.
The owner of this company new that Jes was just dying to get out of the company he was in and it seems knew that his opportunities were taking a significant amount of time, time we really didn't have or want to wait out, so he heard of another opportunity. He called Jes two Fridays ago and let him know about it and gave him a phone number to call.
Jes called the owner of this new company and the owner was very interested in seeing his resume. Jes got all that together and sent it to him 11pm Saturday night, got a call at 11am Sunday, had an interview on Monday and was offered a position on the spot.
This job is local, pays very well (it will give us a raise!), will have insurance shortly and is management.
This whole job change makes me super nervous, but looking back at all the events that have led us to this point have been clear pointers that those other jobs are not the ones for us. All the events of this job have fallen into place and seem to be a good fit for our family.
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