Like the other boys, Wyatt has his own personality. He has always been a bit more of the "baby" -more cuddling, more pouting, more drooling and less talking and a bit less inclined to be the first to learn things. I noticed he was stuttering the first word in a sentence, almost as if he couldn't remember what he was going to say and would just keep repeating the first word over and over and over again. After speaking with a speech therapist, we started talking (much) slower and made our words more pronounced. A few months of this seemed to almost completely take care of the stuttering issue. Then in the past week or two, I noticed his speech was now becoming warbled- almost as if he was talking around a marshmallow in his mouth.
I decided that being he had both the stuttering and the warbling issues, I would call and get him evaluated, but first I wanted to bring him to an ENT (ear, nose and throat Dr). For only $20, we could make sure everything was in it's right place before we moved on to speech therapy.
As the nurse led us to our appointment room she asked Wyatt what his name was and how old he was. Just from hearing him answer those questions, she said, "Oh, you're here for his tonsils then?". I just looked at her and didn't know what to say. Then she told me that is why Wyatt's speech sounds like it does. Kids who sound like that generally are having tonsil issues. Wow.
Shortly afterwards, the Dr came in and looked at Wyatt, and then sent us down the hall for an ear test. Imagine my surprise when he sat back down with us and told me Wyatt needs both his tonsils and adenoids removed -as well as tubes in both ears!
Apparently right now Wyatt has about a 20% hearing loss from the fluids in his ears. His speech is suffering from both the tonsil/adenoid situation as well as not being able to hear as well as he should be. He snores like an adult man and drools like a baby who is teething. As a plus side to having his tonsils taken out, we may see an improvement in his asthma. It is a lot of news for us. We had only gone to cover our bases and were just blown away by the diagnosis and the speed at which everything will be done. He will have surgery at the end of the month and by the middle of January he will be able to breathe easier, drool less, hear better and speak clearer. It is a big change for such a little boy.
4 comments:
Oh Laura - I'm so sorry Wyatt has to have all those procedures done, but I'm glad you found out about them early.
Brian has had tubes a number of times. The difference in his speech and balance were astounding once all that fluid was gone.
Laraine
Holy cow. In that last picture, you can see his giant tonsils. Poor kid. I'm sure he'll feel so much better once everything is out!
Laura,
Please give Wyatt hugs from us and tell him to call his cousin Joey in Buffalo. Joey had his tonsils, adnoids, tubes in both ears, a bronch and a laryngoscopy done about a year and half ago. It's nice to have it all done and you will definately notice much less snoring, this kid snored like a truck driver. We stayed over night in the hospital where they gave him infusions for his blood disease and he was better in a matter of days. I know Wyatt will be resilient and do great. I'm here if you need me!
Love you!
Jenn
Jeez Jenn, you have us beat hands down :) Joey goes through so much, poor guy!
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