Our last appointments in Ann Arbor

I have been meaning to do a blog of how Elle's appointments went at Mott's at the end of May, and it went good! Our first appt was with the ENT. The purpose of this appt was to do a hearing test, and to talk about if we should do tubes or not during the surgery (even though we already said we are doing tubes no matter what, with Elle's history of ear infections).

So we went into a sound proof room, with two little tv screens in the front corners of the room and below the tvs was a puppet and lights, and there was a large window for the doctor doing the test, to see Elle. So I had Elle on my lap, in a chair, and the doctor doing the test had a head set on with a microphone and would make a noise out of one side of the speaker, and if Elle would look over to that side where the sound was coming out from, she would then light up the puppet and lights, and sometimes the tv. It was hilarious because the very first sound the doctor made Elle looked over to where it was coming from and the turned right around and looked at me like "what. the. heck." LOL. It took all I had to not start laughing hahaha. After we did the hearing test, she also did a test to see if she had fluid in her ears. All they do for that is put little "ear buds" in her ears, and those push a small amount of air on the ear drum and if the ear drum doesn't move much, then that shows them there is fluid behind her ear drum, and if it moves a lot then there isn't fluid behind her ear drum. Now we knew she had a little bit a fluid in her ear all the time with the ear test she had done when she was 2 months old, and from all the ear checks she has had from her doctors office. So after those tests were done we talked with the doctor and were told that she has "minor" hearing loss due to the fluid that is in her ear. She said some days she could have more fluid in her ears then other days, and the days that she has more fluid, she is hearing everything muffled, like being underwater, and the days she has very little fluid she hears more clearly. When I heard her describe that, it kinda bugged/hurt me, because here she is not hearing me/us clearly call an object every time, and this is the age that is so important for development in language. So that being said they said that they would recommend us getting her tubes done. So we got that set up with her cleft surgery. After the ENT appt we met up with the speech therapist and filled out a bunch of questions, and talked with her, and then we seen her surgeon for any last questions we had about the surgery, since this was the last time seeing him before her actual surgery. We also had to go register Elle in the hospital, so she was all set up for Aug. 5th. It was a long day, but everything went good!

I am ready for her surgery, but at the same time, I am not. I am really not looking forward to seeing her go through any of this, but at the same time, I want to get it done with, and move past this, because I know it has to be done. We have known she was going to need surgery since she was born, and this last year, with prayer, and God, I can feel him giving me strength and peace for this event that is coming. Her surgery is less then 3 weeks away, and I have a wave of emotions when I sit and think of it. So I just try not to think too much about it. My mother in-law sent us a video a couple weeks ago, thinking we had saw it (which we hadn't) and I am glad she did. It was really emotional and hard to watch at first, but it has helped prepare me, even more for what to see and expect with Elle. For our friends and family that pray, please keep Elle and us in your prayers, please. Pray for peace, comfort, and patience for whats to come, and pray for her during surgery. I will be posting updates on Facebook, the day of, but your prayers and thoughts are very appreciated! In the mean time we are just enjoying our summer!! Having lots of fun, and getting ready for Elle's and Eli's parties!!

Here is the link, for any of our friends and family, that want to know what Elle will be going through.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?autoplay=1&v=Yi3LWWnEhew&app=desktop