The Saga that is Grant's E,N and T

Oh boy where to start with this one....well from the beginning I guess. Grant spent the first year and half of his life with many ear infections, probably one every two to three months. We quickly decided that he needed ear tubs put in, that happened about a year and a half ago. Grant was also a late talker, and we realized after he had the tubs put in that all the wax build up had made it hard for him to hear. We immediately saw a difference in speech, and he soon had a huge vocabulary and was talking up a storm. Since the tubs were put in he has not had another ear infection.

Fast forward to three weeks ago...as you know Grant is in full time pre-school now because I work. As part of a routine review of all the kids, his teacher mentioned to me that she was a little concerned about his speech and that he was hard to understand at times, and suggested we talk about it with our doctor. I tried not to let this upset me, but if you know me at all, I was. After getting any news about your child that could be considered negative, like any mom, I thoroughly dissected it. I knew that he kinda had this “baby talk” way about his speech sometimes, but he has an amazing vocabulary and Nick and I could understand everything he said...what was the problem? I called our doctor that day to schedule an appointment asap!

That night while playing doctor with his new doctor set, I happened to look into his mouth to discover that his tonsils were so big that they were actually touching his uvula. His tonsils being swollen have been an issue off and on over the past year, but they usually were the worst when he was sick. This time he was not sick at all and I was pretty shocked to see them that big. Nick and I both thought this could be contributing to what his teacher thought was a speech issue. After talking with the doctor the next day, they decided they would take a look at everything all at once, instead of making two trips.

On Jan. 19th we went to our pediatrician and discussed everything...the speech, the tonsils, and his ears just in case he may have a hearing problem. She definitely thought the tonsils could be causing problems with the speech, but indicated that it may not be the only thing. She thought they may need to be removed and that Grant may need speech therapy afterwards. She suggested a trip to the ENT, and wanted to rule out Strep so she took a culture too. As we spoke more, she mentioned that she was concerned that Grant may be a mouth breather. Now, I had heard some of my teacher friends discussing this before, but really never knew what it was. I did myself a total disservice by immediately Googling it when I got into the car, and as horrified to see all the problems that could be associated with mouth breathing. I won't go into it all, but I was pretty much, totally freaked out. I called the ENT that day and we scheduled an appointment!

On the 26th we went to see our ENT, the same doctor who put in Grant's ear tubs...Dr. Herlter, he is amazing with kids and I would recommend him to anyone. Nick and I went in fearing the worst; that we would be scheduling a surgery and have to learn that Grant had a hearing problem. We also had a ton of questions about this mouth breathing thing as well. I am pretty sure that Dr. Herlter saw my anxiety a mile away and was so wonderful at calming all my nerves. He did an examination of Grant, all while having a conversation with him...usually Grant is pretty shy, but he got him to open up immediately and Grant was talking his ear off in a matter of minutes. He then turned to us to let us know that Grant was perfectly fine! He explained that his tonsils were big, but that they were only a 3 out of 4, with 4 being the largest and requiring removal. He said he ear tubs looked great and did not need to be adjusted, something that our pediatrician mentioned may need to be done. He also said that there was nothing wrong with speech. His analogy was that, just as flowers bloom at different times in year, so do children. Every child's speech development is different and Grant had a great vocabulary and could express himself very well. He explained that sometimes it takes longer for kids to lose that "baby talk" sound in their voice, and we should not worry right now.

He also told us that he did not think Grant was a mouth breather, ohhhh the relief! After he asked a couple questions we told him that he sleeps with a blanket in his mouth, and has since he was a baby. He immediately told us that there would be no way he could be a mouth breather if he sleeps like that, or has the blanket in his mouth for any length of time. I have always hated Grant's blanket obsession, he shoves that thing so far into his mouth I always think he is going to choke on it. Although we are going to have to take the blanket away from him very soon, I was so grateful for the silly thing at the appointment! His advice was, just keep an eye on speech, and if we don't notice a difference in a year or so we should bring him back. We left feeling very relieved!!!

You may be wondering...why in the heck did she go into this long drawn out story about Grant's ear, nose and throat issues? Well, as you can see I was pretty stressed out about the whole thing, and I admit it was all for minor things. Getting his tonsils out was minor, ear tubs getting fixed was minor; mouth breathing was more on the moderate side but could have been dealt with. It all just made me realize how important it is not to take your health for granted, or the health of your children. I know people whose kids have cancer, and here I am completely stressed out about tonsils. It is things like this that make those everyday stressors seem less meaningful. These times remind me to treasurer the ones I love every. single. day., because tomorrow is not guaranteed. It is so easy to get caught in the daily grind of life, rushing from here to there, just waiting for break…..I know I do it all the time. Your life can change in the blink of an eye, and I know I will be spending each day enjoying happy and healthy kids :-)