Successful Surgery

Schroeder's surgery was successful. When we got to the hospital they took us back to a preop room pretty quickly. The nurse let Schroeder play in a wagon and then it was time for his happy cocktail. It definitely made him happy, I wish I had recorded how goofy he became after drinking that medicine. The nurses took my baby away and within 25 minutes the dr came to tell us it was all done. He said the adnoids were so large he could only see adnoids. Oiy! Dr. Toung said we should notice a big difference immediately. If he can sleep and eat then I will be a happy mama.

He's been home a few days now and he's starting to feel more like himself. His throat hurts but he is starting to eat pudding and drink his juice so I think he's on the road to recovery.

Surgery

Schroeder went to the ENT a week ago and the dr. decided Schroeder's tonsils needed to come out. He told us we could wait until he's 3 but then he might not make any progress in speech. He's in speech because he's not talking, so we decided to go ahead and schedule surgery. He will have his tonsils out this Thursday, Jan. 28. Since he's under the age of 3 he has to stay in the hospital overnight. I'm hoping he's so groggy afterwards that he just sleeps, otherwise we will have one freaked out little boy on our hands.

The dr. said he will have a very bad sore throat and that days 4-7 will be the worst of his recovery. He also told me to have Schroeder relax and not move much, but if you've ever met Schroeder he's never one to sit still. We'll have to see how this recovery goes.

He's been to see his speech teacher, Ms. Christie, twice now and he seems to like her. She plays with him and acts really silly so that helps. We have homework we work on at home and he has to either sign or attempt the word when he is talking with me. For example, if I say "bubbles" then he has to say a word that sounds similar to bubbles and has two parts to it. He usually says "da dl" which is close enough. Ms. Christie said after surgery his tongue will have more space to lay down correctly which will help him be able to say the sounds better. Speech has already him be more aware that words are important to use so he has been trying to say more things and even trying to repeat me when I say things to Mackenzie. Hopefully getting his tonsils out will make it easier for him to speak and he will start talking our heads off!!

Speakin

So Schroeder is still not speaking and it's been a concern for us for about half a year because we kept thinking he should at least be saying "Mama" and "Daddy". The best he can do is "Da" and he's 2 1/2. I took him to an audiologist in November and his hearing is great and he did so well in the little hearing booth the audiologist really wished she had recorded him because he responded so perfectly.

The next step was getting him evaluated by an speech therapist. I took him this past Friday and it turns out he does need speech and also a visit to an ENT. She said that he has apraxia tendencies which means his brain doesn't send the signal to his mouth to make the speech motions and movements. There's more to it but that's the simple version. Also, he has a tongue thrust and part of that is because of his ENLARGED tonsils. She was talking to me about how his bite is off when he bites down and that it could be caused by a tongue thrust. So she proceeds to look at his tonsils and gasps. She handed me the flashlight and made me look and his tonsils are so big you can't see down his throat. I guess that's why he's only requested fruit cups the past week!!

She said that with enlarged tonsils the tongue is not able to rest correctly and that causes a tongue thrust. The tongue thrust also makes it hard for him to make sounds correctly. Anyways, she suggested speech and a visit to the ENT to see about his tonsils. I'm nervous about him possibly needing surgery, but if he needs it so be it. I am just so glad I'm not a crazy person thinking my child should be speaking by now. He wants to communicate with us and has learned to point, prod, and yell at us to get our attention and has learned to drag us places to tell us what he wants. I am so glad that he will be getting speech and hope the new therapist will provide us better ways to communicate with each other as well as help him begin to use his mouth muscles so that he can start speaking. He starts Monday so I will have to let ya'll know how it goes.

P.S. - I have birthday pics from Mackenzie's party as well as Christmas pics that I will be posting soon.