ENT results

Sorry, it was a madhouse for a few days, I couldn't update here. So yes, Monkeyman saw the ENT and as far as doctors go, I really loved this one. Such a kind, patient and knowledgable person. He's 100% sure that Monkeyman has obstructive sleep apnea! (Yay!!!) Absolutely no doubt in his mind, he doesn't even want to put Monkeyman through a sleep study because he knows it will be abnormal. I would've still loved the detail, to know how many times he stops breathing, how long at a time, how his heartrate handles it, how his saturation looks, etc. But it's not worth it putting him through that if the dr doesn't feel he needs it. Isn't it a strange feeling to be relieved about an awful diagnoses like your child stopping breathing at night? I still can't be happy about it, but I definitely am relieved!!

The doc first examined him, and immediately showed me some signs that I completely missed. The most severe the fact that if you look at Monkeyman's profile, it looks like someone punched his midface in. Aparently, the airways needs the pressure of the air to push the bone development of the face outwards. Monkeyman's airpipe between the nose and throat rarely gets that pressure, so his midface development was stunted. His lower jaw has grown past the upper, so he has an underbite already. Is't this awful? I never knew this could happen.

Second sign was his teeth!!! The doc said that it's a clear and big sign that they look for. When mouthbreathing, it damages those baby teeth. No wonder poor Monkeyman's teeth has been so bad!! I used to feel so so bad about it. As his mommy, I was responsible for his teeth. We always brushed 2-3 times a day, and he never complained about it or fought me on it. But still, I felt bad. Other people's comments on why children's teeth goes bad, didn't help much, of course.

Third sign was grannulation in the far back of the throat. It's not due to illness, it's due to a longstanding irritation like mouth breathing.

The dr also comment on the fact that his tonsils were very small, and not infected/irritated at all, and not obstructing breathing. So he was sure the adenoids were the culprit. He sent him off for an x-ray of the facial profile, and showed us afterwards. It was very, very clear. Most of the airway between his mouth and nose, is blocked by swollen adenoids. He said if it was blocked less than 50%, they take a chance on steroid medication to reduce the size, but in Monkeyman's case it's too big. So it has to be removed surgically.

We'll do that in about a week's time. Then, he said we need to wait 8 weeks for recovery, before going back to the cardiologist. If the heart eccho (sonar) shows improvement in the pulmonary hypertension, Monkeyman was one of the lucky ones and we can put this whole ordeal behind us. I think?! Because it would mean the adenoids caused sleep apnea, and the sleep apnea caused the mild pulmonary hypertension. For now, I'm going to try and not think about the "If not..." that's left unspoken. If we need to, we'll deal with it then.

There's a few strange things that I guess I'll never get answers for. Like, why didn't Monkeyman ever trigger the sleep apnea monitor? He slept on it for more than 2 years, and it's supposed to pick up apnea episodes of 15 seconds and longer. Maybe his was only about 10 seconds or so? But why would that cause such bad oxygen saturation that it caused pulmonary hypertension? Or was his pulmonary arteries compromised from the beginning? Like a weak spot that got damaged easier than normal?

Also, why didn't he ever really snore? Only when he's ill and his nose is stuffy, do I hear him snore. I don't go to bed with my children. I check on them/hear them numerous times over about a 3 hour period after they went to bed, before I do. More than enough time to know if they're snorers or not! Also, I wake up numerous times a night. I always hear my daughter snore, so if Monkeyman was a snorer, I think I would've heard him. Or if he struggled to catch his breath during his sleep.

And when did this start? His tiredness started before his first birthday. When he was still just a crawling baby, I was already complaining to friends and family that there was something wrong with this baby. The way he was physically too tired to play for long stretches. When he was diagnosed with severe iron deficiency, I thought it was that. But after 3 months of supplementation, it hadn't improved and was as much part of his personality as anything.

Why didn't the pead mention sleep apnea as a possible cause when I took him to her age 2 because of his tiredness? Maybe the pulmonary hypertension could've been prevented. :-(

I wonder what DOES cause his tiredness? Is it the lack of enough sleep? Is it the heart that works so very hard? Or is it the lack of enough oxygen at night? Or maybe a bit of each? Or different reasons at different stages in his life? So many questions, and no answers.

The ENT is going to draw blood during the operation, to tests for allergies, and do a repeat full blood count and iron test. So nice of him to not put Monkeyman through unnecessary pain! I guess the allergy tests is because we're a very allergic family, as well as because it could be the cause of the swollen adenoids. Because then of course, that cause needs to be treated.

Isn't this "funny". Allergy causing adenoids to swell, that causes sleep apnea, that causes pulmonay hypertension. My son's heart is enlarged, possibly all due to a silly allergy?!?! And he's my least allergic child!

Well, I'll be sure to update once his adenoids are taken out. Wish us luck! It's never easy to put your child through anaesthesia, doesn't matter how quick and easy the surgery apparently is. I just hope he won't be in too much pain, poor little boy.