A Closer Look: Eli
Eli is a happy, rather healthy 5-year-old. About a year ago he seemed to be congested and had extremely stinky breath. We made an appointment with his primary doctor. He gave us an antibiotic, except it didn’t help at all. We went back to his doctor who told us he thought it was MRSA. He gave us a bacterial antibiotic. This took the smell away, but as soon as we completed the medicine regimen, the odor came right back. The odor just kept getting worse.
It got to the point that if you were in the same room as Eli, you could smell it. Our family attended conference in 2016 and saw specialists who we thought could help. We saw a dentist and GI doctor who gave us great advice, but it didn’t lead to the source of the odor. We then made an appointment with an ENT. The first one we saw told us that we needed to brush his teeth really well, which we had been doing from the beginning. I tried to push them to do a scope because I had seen other kids with things lodged in their airway. They looked at me like I was crazy.
Our primary doctor finally got us a referral to another ENT who said he believed it was chronic adenoiditis. He recommended a sleep study to see if they should take his tonsils out as well. We had the sleep study and it showed that Eli had sleep apnea. The ENT said that he could not see his tonsils by just looking in his mouth. Therefore, they decided to do a scope, takeout his adenoids, and possibly his tonsils depending on what they found. The day he went in for surgery he was only in the OR for about 20 minutes. The doctor came out with pictures and told us that Eli had a Band-Aid lodged behind his uvula. The adenoidectomy was cancelled, and I went to see Eli in recovery. The smell was gone!
Since we have been home, the smell has not returned. Eli is not congested, his eyes are less runny and he has had no problems with his ears. He is all-around a much happier, more verbal child now.