Alex needs surgery to remove tonsils, adenoids and needs tubes in his ears. They tested his hearing and he has approximately a 40% hearing loss due to the fluid in his ears. His tonsils are huge and are affecting his sleep. He snores and has sleep apnea. The ENT said that his humongous tonsils are part of the reason he eats so slowly. We told him that he never complains of a sore throat or ear ache and he said that is orphanage behavior. It doesn't do them any good to complain, so they learn not to and to tough it out. I knew this, but sometimes when you hear it from someone else, it seems sadder.
When I told someone at work about the hearing loss, she said, well, I bet you feel bad now because I am sure you have spanked him for something when he didn't hear what you told him to do. Uh, nope! She must be supermom. I am not supposed to make him eat anything he doesn't like either because she didn't make her kids do it.
We have not yet scheduled the surgery. He will need to be out of "school" for one week and then take it easy - no running for another week. While we were at the ENT, Tim's mom was having cervical spine surgery and I couldn't even fathom scheduling it until we knew she was OK. She did fine and may get to go home tomorrow.
After Alex's appointment, I went to his class to tell them about Ukraine. This was world travel week and they had snacks from around the world and parents came in and shared about different countries they were from or had visited. I am not sure if any other parents went, but there is a father from England, parents from Mexico and a family from Russia. When I told the kids some Russian words, the little girl from Russia showed no recognition. I am not sure how long she has been in USA, but she speaks three languages, so it was