No more Captain Caveman

Hear that Captain Caveman voice? Love it! We have always known that Daniel had large adenoids. The guttural language patterns? Check. Deep voice? Check. The snores that sound like a Mack truck and often interfere with sleep? Check.

Although he has had enlarged adenoids, he hasn't really been sick in about three years. So, this year, beginning in January, we couldn't understand why he was getting ear infection after ear infection and every sinus bug he came across.

While on his second round of antibiotics, one day I noticed that he could NOT hear me. Not the normal "I am a kid and I have selective hearing when my mom wants me to do something" loss of hearing, but a genuine loss of hearing.

I am hypersensitive to that because when I came back from maternity leave with Daniel, I realized one of my kindergartners was unable to hear within normal ranges. I referred him to the school nurse, who immediately worked with Medi-Cal to get an ENT referral. He had permanent bilateral hearing loss due to an infection that had gone untreated. He was eventually (in 2nd grade) fitted for hearing aides that he now wears full time. (By the way, he goes to school with Jake and is an A/B student! Yeah, Juan H.)

So, Daniel's pediatrician tested his hearing and diagnosed him with diminished hearing from the fluid that was failing to drain from his ears due to his enlarged adenoids. She quickly referred him to an ENT doctor.

Say, "Ahhhhhh!"





When the ENT saw Daniel's tonsils and adenoids, he felt we should remove the adenoids and tonsils (also enlarged) and put tubes in his ears to help with the draining. He was positive that Daniel's hearing loss wasn't permanent and would be better on the drive home from his surgery.

Perfect! Here Daniel is having his vitals checked. (Look at that crazy hair! He couldn't use any hair pomade or gels.)






Waiting for the anesthesiologist, Daniel kept himself busy with his DS. Once the anesthesiologist saw his airway, he had to do some scrambling. Due to the size of his tonsils, he was uncomfortable blocking the airway for general anesthesia. He decided to do an IV instead. That was no fun!







The surgery only took about 45 minutes. Dr. Lebovitz was amazed at the size of his adenoids. Apparently, they were twice the size of the tonsils which were already out of control. Poor guy! We had no idea!
Here he is still under the effects of the general anesthesia.





Still feeling woozy, but starting to come around. He is watching Looney Toons on my iPad.






Although Daniel was in a lot of pain, this certainly made his day better.






Daniel was still taking it easy about a week later. What a life!







He is a cool kid!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone