Obstructive Apnea.... SAY WHAT?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Joey & I went on a cruise the first week in March. Well, when we returned on Saturday Conner had his usual runny one minute/stuffy the next nose problems. It seems that with the weather we have here in the great state of Alabama, everyone experiences head troubles. As usual, I didn't take Conner to the doctor because what are they going to do.... nothing! Conner's nose stopped running after only a couple of days but the stuffiness at night time didn't go away. Now, Conner has always been a "loud" sleeper. Snoring, stuffy sounding, mouth wide open every night. But this time, something was different. As time went on Conner eventually would stop breathing in his sleep. HELLO... that is NOT normal. I was sold on the whole idea of "it's just the weather" and soaked him in Vick's and ran the humidifier. That seemed to help some, but the problem didn't go away. Now, I guess I am just stubborn, or maybe I don't take Conner being sick as seriously as I should. I've always practiced the "get well on their own builds their immune system" philosophy. After all, the majority of the time doctor's won't give kids medicine. How many times have you heard "it just has to run it's course" ??? I finally broke down Monday morning and took Conner to the doctor. After sharing Conner's symptom's with Dr. B and a quick look in Conner's nose and throat, Dr. B determined that Conner has Obstructive Apnea. Basically Conner's tonsils are enlarged and when he goes to sleep, said tonsils block his airway....... Results??? Conner's tonsils have to be removed!!!

After a quick panic attack and asking Dr. B "ARE YOU SURE IT'S OKAY TO REMOVE HIS TONSILS, HE IS ONLY 2?" I feel a little better about the situation. After all, we can't continue to spend every night watching Conner's stomach move up and down. We go see an ENT Thursday morning and will go from there on when surgery will take place. I'm extremely nervous, but this is something that has to be done. We can't continue to have the little man not breathing properly when he sleeps... :(  I guess I definitely won't be getting the mom of the year award this time. Who knew that snoring in kids was not normal?? I'm thankful that even though this is a serious issue, he doesn't have anything worse. This can be taken care of and on the plus side, we won't have to worry about the possibility of strep down the road... :) Not to mention Conner and I will both finally get to rest at night.

Here is a picture of the little "enlarged tonsil" man from last Easter... is he not just precious ?? LOL