Fun times at ENT

[jelanismom]

Just writing to tell you all how today went....OMG what a tough time at the ENT for Jelani.

We went to UCLA to have his earwax removed, he can't get hearing aides and behavioral testing in soundbooth unless its out. So we're in the room and there's the doc, me holding Jelani and two nurses holding his arms and legs while he sits in my lap. He's clearly upset and is bucking like a bronco and nobody is able to keep him still enough for the doc to get the wax out. She was using a funnel thing and tweezers and it was impossible because Jelani is too strong for all of us! But he wasn't crying at all, like usually he would, he was just being a hulk and with his little 33lbs nobody could stop him!

Now he's scheduled in August to be sedated in the operating room to have the darn wax removed! So then he got an Elmo sticker and we left to travel the 40 miles back home. Just thought I'd share, next stop on the way will be the dentist in late August/Sept. Fun times for all!!!

Does it ever get where our kids are able to sit still without sedation? How old do they usually need to be? 16? Just wondering.

[Ericsmomma]

Ah, sounds like we had the same kind of day....
We took Eric to the ENT yesterday too. (about a hour drive to Cleveland). He had a perforated ear drum about 10 days ago, so he needed a follow up. I sit him on my lap and "mummy him", my arms around his arms, my legs around his legs, and hubby holds his head. The doc had to remove wax from his good ear so he could see the eardrum. Eric went
"Hulk" too! Such strong guys we have! All three of us were sweating bullets! But we did get the wax out. The ENT said he won't have to go to the gym, cuz he already had his workout! And you'd think I'd be skinny! (far from it!). Also, he is scheduled for oral surgery on July 31 to have two teeth removed due to overcrowding. While he is knocked out, his dentist will check his teeth, do any necessary work, and clean his teeth. It has been impossible to have a dental exam because he is so combative. Very, very SENSORY when it comes to his mouth or facial areas. So I feel your pain!

[steffaroni]

Awwwww Dawn I am soo sorry bout that whatta PITA.We have always had great luck with Livs ears when they have removed the wax. Did they tell you to use Debrox on him? It works really well getting the gunk out overnight. Rather messy but works. Definately a bath in the morning after applying this stuff the night before. Also Livs old ped usta tell her she saw ducks etc in her ears and Liv thought it was hysterically funny. So we use it everytime and NOW if they don't ask she'll tell em. HEY Do you see bears in there? She makes em play the dang animal game even if they don't wanna ...lol Forced fun I tell ya... Now everytime she giggles when they look in her ears. I always debrox her ears the night before her appt and it seems to work sometimes I do it two nights in a row prior to her appts. Thought I'd share. Amazing how strong our kiddos can be. Jelani the 33 pound wonder. lol steff

[steffaroni]

Dolly do you know Olivia had 5 teeth removed in 2 appts with regualr novacaine? I was mesmorized at the fact they did it and she was sooo wonderful. The dentist who wanted to put her in restraints said you were right ms lipton we didn't need em. I told em he had best try without as she is a good kid during painful procedures.The dental nurse and him were pleasantly surprised. I told em so na na na na na... steff

[lespring]

I haven't read the other replied yet, but...one suggestion..hold off on getting the ear wax out until AFTER you see how the dentist goes! If it doesn't go well, he can have his teeth cleaned and earwax removed all at once! Always double up on stuff whenever possible. I don't think Angela has ever gone in for ONE procedure. Instead, she goes in for "tune-ups" where we gets SEVERAL things done at once! It's a carefully orchestrated 3-4 act play in the operating room when she goes in LOL Once we had the GI doing an endoscopy, the surgeon doing a HUGE hernia repair (6 inches) ENT doing tubes and a bronchoscopy, and the eye guy doing stents in her tear ducts. Poor kid looked like she'd been hit by a truck, but we eliminated several times under anesthesia doing it this way.

[mydsgirl]

Just wondering if they ever tried wrapping him up in a sheet like a mummy. They did this to Emma to put all the stuff on her for her sleep study. She is also very difficult to hold.

[Valerie]

Oh, I definitely sympathize with you! Trouble is it will get harder to hold them, mine is weighing in at 55 lbs right now, and we've had to do a bunch of stuff this summer before kindergarten!

Physical, shots, lab draw to check thyroid, dentist, and eye doctor. Next month is his heart check up. The only one that went well was the physical, cause he's so used to Dr visits and this particular doctor now that he cooperates very well! The rest of them, .

And don't you hate when you have to put them through that, waste all that time, and still not accomplish anything?? We tried the eye doctor twice, got no where and ended up having to drive 1 1/2 hrs to a pediatric opthamologist!

Good news is so far everything has checked out fine, hoping for same results at the cardiologist! Hope your next time goes much better!


Oh yeah, can't answer your question on when they outgrow it, cause we are not there yet!

[wrblack]

Charlie had an ear infection about 3 weeks ago. Went back to check yesterday. The bad ear was now so clean didn't need any cleaning. Doctor said it was like night and day. Good ear did need a little wax removed. We didn't go to the procedure room and under the microscope this time. Doctor just put on a loop to use a loop and I had Charlie in my lap. He didn't like it much. And he never likes having his head held. But we got by with just some whining and crying.
Trade offs. All kids are different. Charlie is very delayed in many areas but a very mellow little fellow most of the time. And he doesn't hold a grudge. I'm glad of that.
First time this doctor was going to work on Charlie in a procedure room, they put Charlie on a swaddling board, weighted wraps and all. But doctor quickly realized he didn't need all that. -- Bob

[CC]

Aw HUGS to you girl and to Jelani

I am here to tell you YUP it gets LOTS better from one that has been there and done that

Chris is now 15 and it got lots better way before he was 15 so HANG in there girl

Having things done to Chris like taking blood, removing wax, shots, having a strep test done ... OMG lets just say NO FUN.

Then on his terms one day it was no big deal.

CC ~

[Renee']

I would suggest a sheet too. Lauren is SO strong and will NOT sit there. We just had an EKG on Tuesday and I had to hold her down with a broken collar bone. The sheet is great because you can constrain everything and then I lay across her chest and have a nurse hold her feet. She actually let the dental tech clean her teeth. I was floored. Blood work, just forget it.

[Renee']

Oh and Lauren is 90 pounds!

[Chris too]

Gee. Stevie holds still when I tell her to - I had to train her to do it, just like my others, but she knows that I mean business & obeys. This from a girl whose first response to most commands is "No." She obeys because she is able to understand that I mean what I say & will back it up. Any kid who can understand, can obey - even to sit still. The whole question is, can he understand? Are you consistant? Do you only say what you mean? I don't want to be hard, Dawn, I just don't understand why you would be willing for Jelani to be sedated if he can be made to sit still by your being firm - I don't get why you would allow his hearing aides to wait this long (no acclimation before school now) if he can understand the order to sit still? Did you try telling him to sit still before trying to hold him down? If you didn't give him the chance to choose to obey, then you have given him permission to fight and win.

Try to get a dentist appointment this month & require him to sit still. Prepare him for the appointment by explaining to him exactly what behavior you know he will be happy to perform. Talk it up: "Won't they be surprised when you sit still like a statue & open your mouth wide like an alligator?!" "I just know that the dentist will pass right out when she sees how good you can be." "Do you think that the nurses will all say 'who is that little boy - it can't be Jelani!!'?" Be sure to rehearse it again and again how he will walk right into the room, climb into the chair, let them put on the bib, and turn into a robot that only opens and closes its mouth - like a hippo or something equally cool. When the day comes, remind him as you get dressed, remind him in the car & on the way in the door - be conspiratorial. Then make a great show of secrecy & say no more. If he manages this, then re-schedule the ear-wax removal & do the same thing.

Dawn, you have got to allow him to obey - don't just hold him down.

[Renee']

I respectfully disagree Chris.
Lauren has had open heart surgery, Toncils and Adenoids, 7 sets of ear tubes, blood work every 6 months for her thyroid. We are in and out of the doctor all the time.
She is smart. I set her up for what is coming days in advance. When I mention the doctor it doesn't matter what the visit is for she will ask if she has to get blood, shots, IV or pinch. When she did the EKG she would not allow anyone near her. The girls is almost 100 pounds. It comes to a point that some of us have to hold our children down as Dawn had to do. Lauren has been sedated for ECHOS because she had to be completely still. When she was 3 it was easy to control the situation. I am also having issues with Lauren and her hearing aides. Not as simple as one would think. They are 4000 dollars. I have been working with her but I can't force her to keep them in. I am not around her 24/7 and when she takes them off in a place I can't find it becomes an issue.

[Ericsmomma]

I also respectfully disagree....alot of our kids have sensory issues. Some more than others.
I know Eric certainly does. And I also think that some kids have gone through more medical procedures/exams/hospitalizations than others. This usually instills a fear of "medical" personel, which I could understand. I know from working in a pediatric office, if a child went to the ER for some illness/bloodwork/xray's etc, they were much worse than usual at the office. Heck, I've "wrestled" alot of typically developing children to the ground when it came to being examined. Its different from child to child. I can only hope Eric will get better as he gets older. Or else I'm going to need "ARNOLD" as my backup!

[jelanismom]

His hearing aides were put on hold because he needed to have an ABR performed under sedation, but he had been sick for the first two scheduled times. They won't allow clearance for the sedation with even a sniffle. So finally in May without any illness he had the sedated ABR. The audiologist isn't liscensed to remove the wax she saw during the test so she referred us back to his ENT and the ENT being booked as she is, needed to take his earwax out but had no appts. available till Sept! so I BEGGED that Jelani be seen sooner, so she moved us up to last Monday as I wrote, but Jelani wouldn't allow anyone to even look at his ear. He's the same way with earphones, I've tried to desensitize him so to speak, but he won't let me put them on him. So next month he'll have another sedation for the earwax to be removed and then another ABR will be repeated at that very time too. They'll determine if his conductive loss is due to wax, so far he has mixed, sensorineural/conductive hearing loss 40-50 dec.
Then hearing aides will be fitted in August.

I believe he was more compliant at 2 and 3 years old, he allowed certain tests but still wiggled. Now he's just even stronger and it's more difficult, reasoning and rewards and bribery doesn't work...making games and repeating things about how Elmo gets a shot, or gets his ears checked, etc, doesn't work. He still gets frightened. I think it goes beyond obeying me, he will one day, but I'm not worried, he's slowly getting there. I can't put too much pressure on him, just imagining how it must have been for him the first three months life being poked and prodded in an incubator 24/7. No wonder he has a fear. it'll just take time and patience, being firm, and being understanding too. I might try to see if the doctor can check my heart and lungs, etc. FIRST, and then see if Jelani will be less scared.

Thanks everyone for your input, seems we all have similar situations with our kids being still. Today I took Jelani for a check up at his Ped and I prepared him in advance, but it only made him more upset. I tried to make a game of it and use the stethoscope I have at home, but he cries just at the sight of it, so today he wouldn't let her check him without me really holding his arms down as he fussed and tried to get away. He was in his stroller a good part of the time with the belt on.. it's a deepseeded fear that goes way back. I think it stems from his early start in the Nicu and then later procedures he's had with his Nasal Septum repair and T & A and hernia repair. We might think little ones won't remember, but they do. He still has a fear of rubber gloves. He's hypersensitive too, and I'm just now able to trim his nails without him moving, as long as I'm quick!