Happy belated Valentine's day!

Hi Everyone!

I know I broke the once a month update rule, but things have been a bit crazy. My work has been very busy, Michael and all of the kids have been sick for the past few weeks. Amelia had her 5th Birthday party last weekend (more on this later).

More importantly we finally have some answers about Emme's susceptability to colds and hoarse voice. As much as I like our pediatrician I wanted to know why her voice sounds the way it does. "It may be acid reflux" didn't cut it anymore plus she had other symptoms that I could no longer attribute to her heart since her heart is now repaired. She always has a runny nose, she always gets colds worse than everyone else, she's mouth breathing most of the time, she chokes easily, she has been drooling, and she recently started to wake up with cracked bloody lips. As you know speech delay is also a concern. She has improved significantly, but can't seem to say some sounds well at all. I started researching on line and I had some suspicions but the pediatric ENT diagnosed her with the following: "very" large tonsils and adenoids, he told me she currently had an upper respiratory tract infection and that she recently had an ear infection (my poor baby never complains). Also, he stated she has vocal cord paralysis of her left vocal cords. Apparently children with heart disease are more likely to have vocal cord paralysis issues based on the fact that one of the nerves near the heart runs to the vocal cords (new to me). The vocal cord paralysis effects speech but it also causes kids to be more susceptable to colds and make effect speech, you see now how it's all coming together, finally!

Very briefly, we have to treat the tonsils and adenoids first. They may or may not require surgery. Then we can see what happens with the vocal cords. Speech therapy may be necessary.

Anyway, baby is crying, Amelia needs to be put in bed, and I'm exhausted. My time is up for now.