Apples, Horses, and Pumpkins!

Tennyson's First Horse Lesson

Picking Apples at Kiwokaya Orchards

Tennyson's surgery is postponed until this Thursday. She had an allergic reaction to the Tamiflu she was on the week before. It was dissapointing to have this happen, but I do understand the decision. She had quite an impressive rash. Thankfully, it only lasted a couple of days. She's well now (except for her seemingly chronic cold).

In the meantime... Tennyson has started horse lessons (she had to wait until she was three) and we went to the pumpkin patch (the girls had low grade fevers, but didn't feel bad). We thought this was the one place we could go and not infect too many people (can you tell we were desperate to leave the house!). The girls just got a mild case of the flu... they kept asking to do things, and I repeatedly said, "No." Their only symptoms were low grade fevers and occasional body aches.

We also did the Hood River Fruit loop one Saturday. It was beautiful weather... an absolutely perfect day as a family. We visited four orchards, and came home with 130pounds of apples. I thought that was a lot until John said that the man in front of him in line had 400 pounds.

While we were quarantined to the house we (my mom included... she's the best! I sliced my thumb pretty good the first day of peeling, so she peeled for about 6 hours) canned 25 quarts of applesauce, 8 pints of apple butter, and 16 quarts of apple pie filling. The girls found ways to help, and it's great to have some applesauce set aside for the winter. I have always wanted to do apple butter. I found a great slow-cooker recipe online. It cooked all night, and just needed to be processed the following morning. Totally worth it!

So long sleepless nights...

That could be one of many benefits of making it through the day on October 22nd.

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting on the couch filling out a lengthy medical history form for Tennyson. Her pediatrician and speech therapist had recommended we see an ENT doctor to have her evaluated. She had finished 2 courses of antibiotics with little change in her symptoms.

I got to the last page, and realized I was filling in a different column than the previous three pages. All the 'yes' boxes were checked.

Frequent ear infections: YES

Frequent sinus infections: YES

Restless sleeping habits: YES

Have you ever been told your child has fluid in their ears: YES

Speech concerns: YES

Snoring: YES

Flat tympanograms: YES

Sleep apnea: YES

This last symptom is what finally sealed the deal for me to have Tennyson evaluated. I really didn't want to put her through another surgery, but 'sleep apnea' isn't a symptom that is very conducive to being a functional human being.

'Pnea' means breathing. 'A' means without. Tennyson stops breathing at night.

When she stops breathing at night, she wakes up. When she wakes up, she comes into our room. When she comes into our room, she crawls in on my side. When she crawls in on my side, I wake up. When I wake up, I put her back to bed (most nights). When I put her back to bed, she goes back to sleep. When she goes back to sleep, she starts snoring. When she starts snoring, she eventually stops breathing. When she stops breathing at night, she wakes up.

This has been her life for the last couple of years. I can count on two hands the number of nights that she has stayed in bed all night. It's been exhausting, to say the least... for her, and us.

We went to the ENT. He was impressed with her list of symptoms and with the pediatrician's records. He had his audiologist do a hearing test, and Tennyson's tympanogram was completely flat. She had a 30% conductive hearing loss in both of her ears, accounting for some of her speech issues. When he came back in the room with a stack of paperwork, I knew what we were in for. She's having a T & A and tubes put in on October 22 at Emmanuel.

While I am nervous for her surgery and the recovery period, I am hopeful that this will take care of many issues for her. She has some unusual quirks, and many of these can be traced to her chronically inflamed tonsils, full adenoids, and fluid-filled ears.

We are anxious for a full recovery, and a healthy little girl... and some restful nights!