ENT's coming out of our ears!

My husband heart's specialists :) Medical specialists that is. Despite the fact that he is a doctor, he rarely believes in going to the doctor, let alone a specialist. So it surprised me when I asked him if he would go to my ENT appointment (over in St. Louis at Washington University) with me and he didn't hesitate to say yes. Now up until that point I had firmly believed him when he told me I was fine. That I just had a sore throat. But at that moment - that very moment when he didn't roll his eyes, or put up a fight, or make any kind of sarcastic comment, or laugh out loud - that was the moment I felt a little twinge of worry inside of me. Why did he agree to this? This wasn't normal for him. Maybe deep down he was worried about me. Was it possible? ;) But I was also just happy he agreed, never thought that would be my outcome, so I didn't say anything and went along with it. And the dreaded day came... I really didn't want to have anything stuck down my nose or biopsied out of my throat. But PJ insisted (worry level rose for me a little more) so we went. I was feeling WAY better. The lump was disappearing and my swelling was practically gone, could just feel a little something in there still, not a big deal. So I felt silly for going because I "had a sore throat" as my husband couldn't stop telling me. And it was interesting... The conversation between my husband and the specialist. Not sure why I brought him ;) PJ literally laughed out loud behind the specialist as he audibly made louder and louder "ohh. ohhh! oo00OOHHH!'s" while looking at my CT scan and asking me why I hadn't been hospitalized and lecturing me on how life threatening it looked and what not. PJ literally shot down his initial suggestions of an anaphylactic reaction and other random things. But in the end, as they both looked down my nose/throat with that awful camera, they agreed that it was a clear case of Herpes type 1 viral ulcer on my voicebox (still there). Wait, yes, you heard me right. Who gets that??!?! An ulcer on my voicebox!!?!?! I guess I do. I was the random "lucky" one. And he thought it was still pretty swollen - that's when I laughed out loud - cause he had no idea how bad it was before. Although, when learning it was a viral ulcer, and then thinking back to my CT scan he admitted in his 40 years he's never seen the swelling that bad for what I had. And so I just got more lovely and amazing steriods and was told to check back with him in a few weeks for another looksee. I won't be taking PJ this next time ;) And promptly after we walked out of the doctors office he turned to me and said, "See, that's just what I told you. You've had a sore throat." Gotta love him! But did I mention how well cared for I was while sick? I have the best sisters ever who sent me the sweetest packages and mail...

So, after being on vacation and sleeping in the same room with Tyler again, we realized how bad his apnea had gotten again. It was hard, and worrysome, to hear him at night. So I took him to the doctor to get him back on allergy medication. And the doctor took one look up his nose and, after calling him "uni-nose", told us he needed to check in with an ENT again. Man. I had to go back. This time to St. Louis Childrens hospital with Tyler. Wierdly, my brave boy, balked at the idea of going. So a little bribery may have been involved. But I felt so bad on the car ride over when he asked me several times if the doctor was going to cut his nose off. Poor thing, I didn't realize how worried he actually was and how little I must have explained to him. This after he told Dylan he couldn't have any of his medicine because he needed it for his "yucky nose". And the ENT was great. He did the most thorough exam I've ever had one do on Tyler - complete with him testing his speech (cause certain sounds come through the nose) and sticking his fingers all up in Tylers nose. And he admitted, like all the others before him, that this was the worst deviated septum he's ever seen in a child. But he also told us he wouldn't touch it for another 10+ years if we could help it. We don't want to fix a childs nose. When we finally go through with the awful surgery we are going to be wanting to fix and adult nose for an adult face. So we'll keep trying the allergy medication and hope it helps til we can get him older.

So, all these ENT appointments is making me thing PJ should have specialized...