Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Ashlyn's Ears

So we went to the ENT last Friday for the post op appointment for her surgery that was done on July 15th. For those who don't remember, she had her adenoids removed (well, most of them), tonsils removed, and tubes put in her ears.

The doctor said everything "looked" good. We pressed to have another hearing test done to see if the tubes are working. Well, after making another appt for a half hour later, the audiologist gave her another hearing test. It came out that she has more hearing loss in her left ear. The doctor's office finally called yesterday to discuss this and we called him back today. They just want to put her on more ear drops because the tube "may" be clogged. So instead of looking with some special instrument or something, he wants to do this...

Well, lets just say I kind of "fired" that ENT. I have an appt on the 15th to see a pediatric ENT to see what he says. I've heard good things about this ENT, so hopefully we'll have better luck! We get to go see the oralmaxillofacial surgeon (spellling?) next week to look at her submucous cleft palate again to see how things are going. She still has some pretty significant speech issues, but at least the English is getting better to where most people understand most of what she says (I think).

We're also waiting to hear from the oral surgeon about removing two of her baby teeth. They were waiting on the information from the pediatric cardiologist at Shands and they finally got that last week. Well, we called today because we hadn't heard anything and it turns out that they forgot to give the surgeon the fax to look at...ugh! Are there any reliable doctor's/doctor's offices anywhere??? Even her speech therapist doesn't want to communicate with us. It took me writing a stern email to get a response from her about how we can help her at home and how she's doing in speech therapy! All we got was negative feedback about how the biggest obstacles in understanding her speech are her tendencies to delete the final sounds in words and to simplify clusters or consonant blends (e.g. "mart" for "smart"). She finally sent a worksheet home for us to work with her on, but no instructions on how to do it.

Alright, I'm done venting :-) I need to believe that the Lord gave her to us because he knew I would get the help she needed when she needs it. He never gives us more than we can handle...just have to keep moving and believing this with all my heart!

2 comments:

  1. You guys are doing such a great job with Ashlyn. You're right, you're never given more than you can handle...it's just you don't know your own strength at times! Way to push for her health with doctors though...you're going to be the only advocate for her, and you guys have already moved mountains with her, even if it still seems you have a long way to go...from where she started almost a year ago (! wow...time flies!!), she's made SO many improvements! Keep up the great work! Love you!!

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  2. The challenge with raising kids is you can't go back and ask for a refund.

    ...

    Regardless of all the problems you might confront with her, she's a happy happy child. That says everything you need to know about what a great job you guys are doing.

    Love you - Dad

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