Day 14 - Ear Tubes & Adenoidectomy

Connor always had a very obvious startle reflex to loud noises, especially to our dog Loxi barking. When he was around 11 months, we started noticing that he lost this startle reflex. We were not sure if it was normal to lose the startle relflex or if he wasn't hearing as well.  He had also stopped a lot of his babbling so we thought maybe it did have to do with his ears. We went back to the ENT again and found that Connor did in fact have lots of fluid in his ears. His ear canal's are very small which is common in children with Down Syndrome, so it has always been very hard for the pediatrician to diagnose Connor with an ear infection. We had been to the doctors for several colds/fevers, but only knew of one possible ear infection.

Connor's ENT decided it would be best to put in ear tubes to drain the fluid to allow for best possible hearing.  He also advised that it would be best to take out his adenoids at the same time. Connor snored very loudly and always sounded sort of junky or phlegmy. Removing the adenoids should help alleviate some of those symptoms.  In February 2011, Connor had the tubes put in and his adenoids out and had to spend 1 night in the hospital due to his age and heart condition.

He did great with the surgery and while under the anesthesia they conducted a sedated hearing test. He passed the hearing test and they said that there was a bit of residual fluid so Connor would be hearing things slightly muffled, but that should clear up soon. That was great news!  I spent the night in the hospital, but neither of us got much sleep because of course the nurses felt the need to check his vitals every 2 hours. He would finally fall comfortably asleep and sure enough the nurse would be back in the check his temp and blood pressure. Connor is a very light sleeper and once he is up he is up. By the time I would get him back to sleep they were ready to come back in to check him out again! 

Here is Connor a few hours after the surgery:

And here is Connor the following morning:

Luckily Connor was discharged early the next morning and was sent home to recover. There wasn't much of a recovery time as you can see in the picture. He felt much better in the morning! The tubes are still in today, he startles to Loxi's barks and other loud noises, and luckily has had no ear infections!  Now we are just waiting for the babbling =)