Sooooo, I thought I would share with my friends and family that Olivia will be having surgery (tonsils and adenoids removed) on February 26th. She has been having TONS of viral throat infections and other illnesses far too frequently since birth, so we were finally referred to an ENT to check into her tonsils. We knew they were bad, even when she wasn’t sick because her pedicatrician was always making comments about the size of them. She had been asking us to take her to the ENT since 12 months (she is now going on 17 months), but we felt she was far too young and far too tiny to endure the possiblity of surgery.
So we chose to wait, praying she would stop being sick as frequently as she got older and “grew out of it”…which everyone told me. But unfortunately, everyone was wrong and she kept getting sick and the fevers were coming on constantly. I have been missing work all the time and my job has been on the line. I finally got approved for intermittent FMLA, in order to care for my child, who seems to be sick 2-3 weeks out of the month.
Upon the FMLA approval, we decided it was time to take her to the ENT and find out what was wrong. We took her Friday 2/8, to the top ENT in San Diego County (heads Children’s Hospital ENT). He literally took one look at her tonsils and referred to her as “remarkable for her age”. He said in all his years of ENT (very many), he had never seen tonsils this size in a child her age. He went on to ask if she is able to eat properly, as the space she has to swallow her food in abnormally small from the size of her tonsils. She really does eat quite well, so luckily, it hasn’t caused that problem. He said she would be needing surgery ASAP to remove them, or we would continue to endure these constant, never-ending fevers, illnesses, etc.
I had really hoped that we would get there and the doctor might say “yes, they are large, but lets keep an eye on them until she is 2″…but no, that is not an option. I even asked if we could wait and he said “No”. In a way, I feel some sense of relief, hope that my baby might feel normal and not be sick CONSTANTLY. We literally have no life. We feel like if we take her out, she will get sick. We can’t plan anything because we never know what might be wrong with her that day. We have felt like prisoners and I can’t imagine how she feels. She goes to daycare and literally comes home sick constantly, even though nobody else seems to be sick! My poor baby doesn’t even know what it feels like to be a normal, happy, healthy child. Oh and whoever said breastfeeding makes them strong and healthy….well, I proved them wrong. 17 months (and going strong) has done nothing to prevent any of this. However, I must admit, it is quite soothing and healing for her
Anyhow, in the end, the doctor promised me we would have our life back and that Olivia will be a whole new child. She won’t have a HIGH fever every other weekend and we might actually be able to plan a vacation or day of fun! These things keep me positive about the surgery. But on the other hand, he did say she is one of the youngest patients he has performed the surgery on and that we will actually need to stay in the hospital (a day or so) due to her age and size. This scares me, but I have to believe that everybody only wants whats best for her.
Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Please let her get through this surgery without complications and even more, please let this be the answer to all of her health problems!
Thanks to anyone who actually read through this!
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