Thursday, October 14, 2010

31 for 21: Sleep Study Day

Today is a day that we have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for.  Back in May we saw a new ENT, Dr. Dohar, at Childrens Hospital in Pittsburgh.  He was a very nice doctor who really seemed to know his stuff.  We were referred to him by the Down Syndrome Clinic at Children's.  They said that he has been treating alot of their Down Syndrome population and we should switch over to him.  He decided to have the boys do a sleep study to determine if they suffer from sleep apnea at all due to the very large size of their tonsils.  One a good day with no infections or colds the boys tonsils almost touch, they are huge.  I thought that alone would be criteria to remove them, but apparently not.  We had a sleep study scheduled at the beginning of July, but Caleb broke his femur on June 24th and was totally not sleeping through the night at all, so we canceled both boys.  I figured I didn't want one done without the other and risk the chance of having two separate surgery days if they do in fact need to come out.  So we held off until the cast came off and here we are.

I have never experienced this before and I am a little nervous based on the stories and photos I've seen of other children having this done.  Just all the wires and tape and discomfort.. doesn't look fun.  But I am anxious to see the results and think its a needed study.  Tom will be in one room with one boy and I in another with the other boy.  We check in at 6:30pm, get hooked up, calm them down, lights out by 9:50...hopefully sleep.. study done at 5:30 am, remove wires, check out at 6:30 am.  GEESH, sounds like a good time to me!!  Part of me is smiling because I have been telling my husband for months that he should in fact get a sleep study done as much as he snores and chokes up while he's sleeping sometimes.  Maybe I can persuade the sleep study tech to suggest it to him after tonight too :)

The chore that is cut out for me today is to keep them awake during the 2 1/2 hour car ride to Pittsburgh, we are to try to keep them from napping at all today.  Good thing for portable DVD players, they are totally a life saver most days with us.  I will sit in the back seat and engage them in the movie and act silly the whole way, so if your driving by and see a crazy woman doing tricks in the backseat today in route to Pittsburgh, honk and wish me luck...

I will update with photos later if I can. 

On a side note, I am sitting on the bedside next to the bathroom typing this up while the boys are getting their bath listening to the most joyous sound in the world.... the belly giggles of two brothers playing in the water together.  Thank you Lord for today and whatever it may bring!!!

1 comment:

Mary said...

Found you from 31 for 21. Good luck on the sleep study. I hope you find the awnsers you need to keep the boys healthy. Looking forward to reading more.