Paxton update- Adenoids and Tubes

Sometimes life just seems so unfair.  I know we are fortunate that our son is healthy and happy, but it is still hard to watch him deal with all of his medical issues. 
Monday, we went to Hopkins for a consultation with an ENT.  Paxton had tubes put in at 12 months; however, one fell out and the other is no longer functioning.  He continues to get chronic ear infections.  He also gets sinus infections. 
First he had a hearing test.  His results came back normal in the left ear and just below normal in the right ear.  My kid was a champ though.  He was so sweet and so good!  I was so proud of him. 

Next, we waited 2 hours to be seen by our ENT.  I really loved the Dr, but the resident and student that were assisting her had a very poor bedside manner.  I was NOT impressed.  But anyway...  She is recommending that we do a swallow test first where he will drink some liquid and they'll take x-rays.  I'm a little anxious to see how that will work with a 2 (almost 3) year old. 

After that, he will have surgery to remove his adenoids and put in another set of tubes.  They are also going to take a camera and check out his esophagus.  They are also going to check for someone just below his voice box.  They lost me here, but I'm going to type it as I remember it.  In some cases with children with feeding/eating disorders, they have found a "spot" below the voicebox.  If he has this thing, they will fill it in temporarily with some sort of gel.  The gel will last 8-12 weeks and during this time, if we see an improvement in his eating, we will know the cause.  If he has it...they said the gel works with 70% of patients.  If he has it and if it works, they will then schedule a surgery to permanently fix it.  So...basically, it's a lot of if's. 

Next up...July 8th he has a consultation to talk about round 2 of fixing his hypospadius (birth defect he was born with-fixed the first time in March 2011).