Monday I took Joshua to see the pediatrician about his congestion. I figured that he had been congested for 14 months, so I should start working on getting him relief. I told the doctor what the early intervention people said, that it was a problem and that it could affect his speech development. He asked if one of them was a speech therapist; I told him that I wasn't sure about one, but I didn't think so. He muttered to himself about them stepping out of their bounds. But he was really good to me and kept asking questions.

I told him I thought that Joshua had allergies. Dr asked if anything set them off, like pollen, going outside, or if getting away from anything gave any relief. I said no, but I assumed it was allergies because it never went away, he has been stuffy since the NICU. I mentioned that the Early Intervention people said it could be enlarged tonsils or anodes. Dr said that he didn't think so because they usually don't grow until about age 5, he might consider them to see if they grew early if the congestion started recently, but since he has been congested since birth he was most likely not that. Besides he said Joshua's tonsils are normal sized, and you can't see anodes, but they usually get big with the tonsils.

Then Dr. asked me if Joshua had a feeding tube. I said yes. He asked if it was in both sides of his nose. I told him it had been in both sides of his nose, but one side more than the other because they had a hard time getting it in one side*. Then Dr. said we are finally getting some where. Dr. suspected Joshua has a Choanal Atresia. Which is basically during fetal development one of his naval cavities did not open all the way. It could be a bone or just a membrane in the way. Dr. referred us to a ENT (Ear Nose Throat Dr), and we have an appointment the end of August to find out more. Dr. said that they will probably put a scope up his nose to see what is up there. Until then that is all we know.

*When I got home I looked at Joshua's pictures from the NICU and counted the days he had the feeding tube in his right side and days he had it in his left. This isn't everyday he was in the NICU, but I saw a definite trend unless I have a horrible sample. I counted 19 times on the right and 4 times on the left.