Tubes and Adenoids

It's back to the doctor's for Whitney. We've had another bad winter for ear infections. Whitney seems to be getting ear, sinus and even eye infections one right after another these days. Melanie was good enough to take her to a new Ear, Nose and Throat specialist to find out the cause of all the trouble.

This new doctor was very helpful. We really liked him. He looked in Whit's ears and could see that her last set of tubes had come out and were sitting loose in the ear canal. That explains why she's all closed up and infected again.

Melanie mentioned to the ENT that many of the 1p36 Deletion-affected children in our support group have had their tonsils and adenoids removed to help fight the constant infections they are prone to. He thought that sounded like a good idea. The doctor took a look at Whit's tonsils and said they seemed to be the right size and probably weren't causing her problems. He did recommend that we get her adenoids looked at more closely as they likely contribute to the sinus and ear congestion problems that Whit always has.

So we have a date at one of our local hospitals in a couple weeks for Whitney to have the third set of tubes placed in her ears. Inserting the tubes in her ear drums only takes about ten minutes. But while Whitney is under anesthesia, the ENT will also examine her adenoids. If they seem problematic, he'll remove them as part of the same procedure.

While we don't relish the thought of another surgery for Whitney, the procedure is short and the benefits should be seen almost immediately. The recovery for having adenoids removed is also a lot quicker and less painful than tonsils. We're glad about that, because my 25 pound 5 year old couldn't take too many days of not eating.

Melanie and I have high hopes that we'll have a healthier, happier girl in a couple weeks. I'll report back on how things go.