We have friends who's kids have spent a considerable amount of time at Children's hospital in Birmingham. From the NICU to prolonged illnesses to receiving life saving chemo to outpatient surgeries to unexpected emergency room visits, we know children's...but only second hand. Both little girls have had things "checked out" there before, but nothing that required any follow up.
And for that we are so thankful!
But Monday we took sweet Anne Perry to get her little raspy hoarse voice checked out. I brought it up at her 3 year old checkup, and of course our Dr. B sent us to none other than the best pediatric ENT, Dr. S. The possibilities: polyps that required a scope to be diagnosed or just nothing at all.
Since our last visit, everything has changed there. Building built. Renovations complete. And we ended up parking as far away as possible for where we needed to be! So what else does one do at Children's: take a wagon. Except we really needed two!
We made it ON TIME to our appointment (by 5 minutes early!) & my mom & i managed to occupy three kids 5 & under for an hour before they called us back. I know, I could have left the other two at home; but there's amazing support in numbers, especially when they are your big sister & twin sister. And they didn't disappoint.
I filled out more paper work than I have on myself, ever, at a drs visit. Anne Perry cooperated beautifully with the basics of listening to heartbeats & looking in ears & noses & mouths. And then they decided a scope was necessary.
Why would they scope a child's vocal chords while they're awake? So they will scream, of course, & they can see exactly what the voice box is doing.
Following our Dr. B's lead of complete honesty even with a child when it comes to a medical procedure, I asked all the questions of how so I could then explain it to her. The nurse described the scope as about the size of a large piece of spaghetti. That was enough for me. So I told Anne Perry they would be putting some special medicine in her nose so it wouldn't hurt & the doctor got to stick a spaghetti camera in her nose!!! She giggled & we talked about how mommy's camera was not a spaghetti camera & how we couldn't stick spaghetti up our nose (or anything for that matter)...only doctors could do that!
They came in to spray the medicine, she was amazing. Even sniffed when they asked her to. I was prepared, even in my pregnant state, to have to restrain a thrashing, flailing, freaking out three year old (because if you saw the length of the camera, you'd have thrashed & flailed too!). The nurse even told me I might have to wrap my legs around her. I said...lets just see how she does. I was so thankful the nurse trusted me enough to hold her (I wouldn't have budged on that one anyway) & that Anne Perry trusted us all.
She was mesmerized. The doctor & nurse didn't know what to do with her. She watched the big screen as we talked about her nose (& booger!), her throat & finally her vocal chords. I was amazed: amazed at how God has created our bodies! And amazed at our daughter. She didnt cry or scream, & I finally had to coax words out of her: what does mommy have in her tummy? Silence. Does mommy have a baby chicken in her tummy? No!!!! (smile & giggle). Then she started saying the eeeeee sound for the doctor. Amazing. Simply amazing.
Well...long story summed up: she has nodules (similar to callouses) on her vocal chords which cause them not to be able to close all the way. Apparently she's young for that & from what I've read now, they don't typically remove them at this age. We're working on a speech & language evaluation to pursue voice therapy as well as scheduling an appointment with a GI specialist. Her reflux was so bad as a baby, and Dr. S is suspicious that is making things worse.
We wrapped things up & Anne Perry asked for a sticker. Except then she said, Audrey Kate will want this one & Addie will want this one & I want this one. Thank you. Thank you so much! Such sweetness! The nurse asked when she was turning four...and was shocked to find out she had just turned three. Little rockstar. Amazing rockstar that had nothing to do with her or me but the fact that she was covered in prayer by so many of our sweet friends!
After almost 3 hours, we headed back out to the waiting area. There was much squealing & hugging & loving from her sisters. I kid you not: a full on welcome back to the waiting room party complete with coloring books & stickers & a present: a hello kitty doll! After being told the playground was for employee's kids only (?), my mom managed to calm a very understandably upset five year old with horribly unmet expectations (we'd been told they could play on it by the clinic desk), find the gift shop, spoil the girls with prizes & bring back the gift shop's manager who carried our heavy bag & found us not one but two wagons. Yup. I think we might have a few rockstars on our hands!
We have a lot of quiet voice training & therapy evaluations & appointments still to maneuver, but God has already made it clear that He knows the plan & knows our needs. Thank you sweet friends & family for praying over this trip. Many of you covered us in prayers of safe travel & good outcomes. As I told a friend, the unknown is what makes things hard: that it could be nothing, something or something really bad. Thankfully, it's "just" something, and we are so thankful that He goes before us!
It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." Deuteronomy 31:8
