Happy Birthday Allison and Jordan

So, I am a little behind on this post, but this weekend we celebrated Jordan's 3rd birthday( Sept 12th) and Allison's 8th birthday(Sept18th).

We had a wonderful time with the family. Allison's theme was butterflies and Jordan's was Thomas. It is so hard trying to find a theme to fit a boy and a girl, so they each get their own.

Happy Birthday, Allison and Jordan!! You both are special gifts from God.

Enjoy the video of Allison and her very special birthday gift.......I just love her reaction. Once again it is these moments that make us realize what a wonderful gift CI's are, when she can express in words her excitement over a birthday gift.

3rd and Final

Yesterday, Allison had what we hope will be her final surgery. This time it was her right ear. Once again the doctor cleaned out the cholesteotoma and removed her ear drum( which was paper thin and not really doing her any good, due to her hearing loss).
She was in surgery about 2 1/2 hours, not nearly as long as the surgery on her left ear( 3 1/3 hours). Her doctor said she did great. After about 1 hour in recovery we were able to see her. Allison was in some pain, but was given some pain medicine and was able to get up and go to the bathroom. We were able to leave around 12:45 and home by 1:30.
Allison is very cranky, a sure sign that she is not feeling the best, she is usually a really happy girl.
She is happy that everything is done and is now looking forward to our mini vacation in Oct.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Sometimes we need a little reminder that what we did for Allison was all worth it. Well, we got that reminder on Sunday. On the way home from church, we always ask Jared and Allison what they learned or did at church. Allison showed me the picture that she made. Look closely at the verse and then what she wrote in one of the boxes, I think you will know what I mean.

The verse is a little hard to read, it is...Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Needless to say, I was crying tears of joy when I looked at her paper.

Thank you Allison for this precious gift, it will be added to our memories to cherish.

Big News!

No....we are not having a baby:-)

We are 1 step closer to joining a diaper free world. Jordan is potty training. Yesterday he had his light bulb moment( when it clicked, he knew that feeling meant something was about to happen) in Target of all places. We were school shopping for Allison when I heard these wonderful words...."mommy, I have to go pee". We raced to the front of the store, found the bathrooms, went inside, found the kiddy potty and he did his business. He was so proud of himself. He was rewarded with a bag of popcorn( which he was kind enough to share with his mommy and sister).

Everyone sing with me..........."Mommy, wow, I'm a big boy now".

Anyone have any suggestions on what to do with all the extra money we will be saving........"take a vacation", you say, what a great idea!

A Summer full of Surgery

Yes, that is what the Summer of 2010 is turning out to be. It started with what we thought was going to be a simple tonsilectomy and turned into not 1 but 2 ear surgeries.

Allison had surgery today on her left ear. She has cholesteatoms in both ears. Today the doc cleaned out the scar tissure from the repeated breaking of the sac behind the eardrum, removed the eardrum and 2 of the 3 bones in the middle ear. He shortened her ear canal, so no yuck can get in. He was careful to leave enough of an ear canal that Allison will still be able to wear her ear molds with her Cochlear Implant. She was in a fair amount of pain when I saw her in recovery, but right now she is happy on pain med and playing with play-doh in the family room where there is carpet, any othertime, she would be at the kitchen table, yes the joys of having surgery.

We are waiting for her to heal from this surgery before we schedule the right ear, oh am I not looking forward to telling her that she not done yet.

Update on Allison

Allison's surgery is next Friday, July 23rd. The doctor wants it done sooner rather then later, which means no family reunion for us on the 24th. :-(
The plan is to move the wire of the CI back into place and take out both of her eardrums and shorten the ear canal, so no bacteria can get into the cavity where the eardrum was.
We are hoping that this is the all the surgeries Allison will need and that she will be able to enjoy her last few weeks of summer before school starts again.

A Bit of Good News

Yesterday I took Allison to her audiologist to check the electrode that is in her left ear drum, we wanted to make sure that it was not causing her problems.
After running the necessary tests, it was determined that it was not an actually electrode but the lead wire that was in her ear drum.
This means that right now all the electrodes are still in place and working as they should be. It still means that it will need a surgical fix, but there is no risk of the implant failing.

We still don't know when they will do the surgery, we are hoping in the next 2 weeks or so. We would really like to enjoy the last few weeks of summer without this hanging over our heads.

Thank you for the prayers, keep them coming.