Over this last month Vada has had a constant ear infection in her right ear as well as a runny nose, cough and pink eye-- in both eyes. She is currently on her third antibiotic and the doctor has already brought up the possibility of having tubes placed in her ears. He said that the next step, if the current antibiotic doesn't clear up the infection, we'll try antibiotic injections. If the shots do not clear up the infection, she will need to have tubes placed.
I understand that this is a common issue in individuals who have Ds due to the anatomy of their ear canals and that the procedure itself is quick and easy but I don't want V to have to go through more surgeries. I am hoping that the medication she is on right now clears the infection up and that we can all go along our merry way but I doubt that that will be the case.
Ear infections and needing tubes placed is not just something that individuals who have Ds go through. Kiliegh, my middle daughter, had constant ear infections, more than Vada. She too had to have tubes placed in her ears and they did wonders! Which helps ease the tension of V having to have them. Truthfully, having had some pretty painful ear infections myself, I would rather V have the tubes placed verses her constantly feeling the pain of the infections.
One good thing that came out of our trip to the doctors was that V had her weight and measurements done! She is still around twenty-eight to twenty-eight and a half inches long but she is now eighteen pounds! (She hadn't poo'd in a day --which she later did in the tub-- so her "real" weight may be slightly lower than the eighteen pounds.) That makes V twenty months old (almost), twenty-eight inches long and eighteen pounds. Which puts her just above the tenth percentile for her wight and a negative of about twenty-five percent for her height-- Still an ity-bity, but growing!
In case you were wondering, I used a
growth chart that has been customized specifically for children who have Down syndrome when figuring out V's percentiles.
