Seach The Maas Family Blog

Monday, October 27, 2008

Vocal Nodules

Well, for the past several weeks I have noticed Ben's voice is hoarse. I emailed the speech therapist that he is working with at school for articulation and asked about it. We met, discussed, and I called the pediatrician to get a referral for a pediatric ENT. This morning we went to see our favorite (Dr. Bauer if you ever need one!!!), and he had the same prediction as the speech therapist: vocal nodules.

The only way to confirm this is with a little camera that goes in through your nose. Ben did INCREDIBLE!!!! Especially with the numbing nose spray (he is anti-anything to do with his nose; just ask the nurse he kicked with his cowboy boots after the flu shot!) that tasted horrible. I think it also helped that the nurse was young and blonde with a friendly smile. :)

So, we all watched the computer screen as the scope went in. I felt like I was part of Magic School Bus! As the camera went down into Ben's throat, Dr Bauer immediately confirmed that yes, Ben does have vocal nodules and pointed out where they were. Then he continued having Ben talk and take deep breaths.

He showed me where there were two 'large' bumps that looked like swollen gums in a mouth. To me they looked about 10 times the size of the vocal nodules, but they were closer to the camera and I really have no concept of spacial application - just ask Andy. :) This is what reflux looks like! Therefore, Ben has started a daily dosage of prevacid and we'll go back for a checkup.

(((Let me just say, prevacid is the most awesome heartburn drug in the world!!! I love it! With each pregnancy I got heartburn almost immediately. With Annie, the Dr gave me nexium but that did nothing compared to prevacid, so I requested my beloved prescription! It saved my life! And my family's as I was miserable to be around...)))

Ben has been complaining occasionally that his throat hurt, mainly when he was very hoarse and pretty drippy. A few times he has cried complaining that his chest was burning. Now, I feel like a horrible mother for not picking up the cues! Anyway, hopefully this will mend some of the pain and reduce some of the hoarseness as the throat (?) inflammation decreases. I'm also hoping Ben will stop waking up between midnight and 2 am - another fabulous side effect I had before the prevacid kicked in.

Anyway, that is what I have been dealing with today. Now I will email his speech teacher and we will look into what options there are to help Ben now. According to the Dr. there isn't much that can be done for kids with vocal nodules and hopefully he will outgrow it. However, if Ben really wants to work at it, he can learn to no further abuse his voice.

I did a little bit of researching on it and learned a little bit more than I already knew. The most interesting information was the descriptions of children that are prone to this condition. I thought this was funny:

"a loud, outgoing, enthusiastic, competitive personality with a tendency to “act out” emotionally (their parents can often remember them as terrible “terrible two’s” who tantrumed loud and long and who could whinge endlessly). Some babies just seem to be born loud and lovable, and grow into loud and lovable toddlers and children, some of whom are, unfortunately, 'at risk' for voice problems. "

add to that reflux, allergies, clearing his throat, dry nose, recess with other kindergartners, and Ben is a prime candidate!