Nola's Trip to ACH

I let another month go by without posting.  You know when this happens that either (a) nothing is happening at our house or (b) too much is happening at our house.  Considering that we have 2 small children, you know that you (a) is not a valid option, right?  As usual, we have been so busy and things have gotten so crazy that I haven't had the ability to organize my thoughts, much less the ability to sit down and actually write.  But, here I am:  Saturday night, both kids and Rudy are in bed, football on TV, blanket and laptop...ready to record the goings and doings of the Villines family in September. 

On Friday, September 10th, we took Nola to Little Rock to see the chief of the ENT department at Arkansas Children's Hospital.

 

The 3 1/2 hour drive to Little Rock was miserable.  Nola cried most of the way.  She was madder than a hornet about being in that carseat.  Poor Caleb just turned up the volume on his headphones and watched a movie.  We met Mom and Mr. L. so that they could take Caleb to their house.  That kept us from having to take him with us to the appointment. 

We were called into the office pretty quickly.  In fact, we were a little early for our appointment, so I expected to have to wait a long time, but we were actually in a room before our appointment time.  What a pleasant surprise!  My college friend, Emily, works in the clinic and came down to see us for a little bit while we waited for the doctor.  That helped so much because it took my mind off of what we were there for.  

The first doctor that we saw was an intern.  He asked lots of questions and took a look at Nola and told us to go across the hall where the other doctor would do the procedure.  We moved into a tiny room filled with lots of equipment. 

Eventually, the doctors came in with a sweet nurse who wrapped Nola in a blanket so that her arms were bound and then held her while Dr. Bower did the nasoendoscopy.  He put the cable up Nola's nose and down her throat so that we could see her vocal folds and then her trachea.  Suffice it to say that she was not happy about this whole event. 

Dr. Bower told Rudy and I that Nola's laryngomalacia is mild.  It is still expected to clear up by the time she's 18 months.  No surgery or treatment is needed.  He did say that she also has mild tracheomalacia - her trachea is also a little floppy, like her vocal folds.  Same story, though - she'll grow out of it.  Yay!!!  He wrote her a prescription for a reflux medicine, but it hasn't been helpful to keep her from spitting up, so we've stopped giving it to her.

While we were there, we mentioned to the doctors that Nola's ears had started draining the day before.  (Yuck!)  They looked at her and said that her tubes were still in and the fact that they are draining means that the tubes are doing their job.  Basically, the tubes are allowing the infection to drain out.  He wrote a prescription for some drops and sent us on our way.  He told us to follow up with our regular ENT if the drainage didn't get better.  I'm disappointed that they are infected at all because after Caleb's tubes were put in, the infections stopped.  Nola is a whole other story when it comes to her ears. 

After the appointment, she was ready for a trip to Hot Springs...and she only cried part of the way.