Doctors, Doctors Everywhere!

The perpetually blurry brother.

Rory had her MRI and it was 100% normal!!! Hurray! What that means is that her IS is not symptomatic, or it is not a symptom of a bigger problem. All that's left is for her to have blood and urine work done to make sure it isn't being caused by something metabolic. If it's nothing metabolic then we continue with treatment as is, have another EEG and pray for remission and that she continues to make strides developmentally.

Thursday morning was the big MRI... it was daunting. Rory and I had to be at the hospital at 6:30, we didn't head down to the MRI until almost 8:30 and I had a very unhappy baby that hadn't eaten since 8 the previous night, needless to say it was a very long couple of hours.

I walked into the MRI ante-room to speak with the anesthesiologist. They swept Aurora into a side prep room and said "see you later." It was very distressing to see strangers in scrubs whisk my baby away to poke her with needles and put her into a chemically induced sleep and I had no control over any of it.

The whole procedure took an hour and a half. I wandered the halls and paced the waiting room. I was ready and waiting for her in the recovery room when she finally arrived. I was handed a sleepy baby with an IV in her ankle, multiple pokes and bruises from failed IVs in both of her hands and ankles, tape residue on her face and chest from her breathing tube, and dried blood in her palm. It took everything in me not to bawl. She was sleepy the rest of the day with a mild fever. It is not possible to express how relieved I am that it is done and over, the results were desirable, and we will never have to do that AGAIN! 

Later that evening we saw her Neurologist here in Idaho Falls for the last time. The next time we see a neuro it will be in Utah... oh boy.

As if we hadn't seen enough doctors, Noah had an appointment with the Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist today. He is scheduled to have surgery to repair his cleft lip on the 27th. We will be at Primary Children's the 23rd for Aurora, then four days later BACK at the hospital for yet another procedure to our son. Does it ever end, holy cow.

The ENT specialist made a compelling case to have the surgery done assuring me it is a wise and appropriate choice for him long term. That doesn't make it easy to make the decision to put my son under the knife. The cleft is minor enough that he would be okay functionally without surgery, especially since he is already in speech therapy. However it is severe enough that he could benefit from having it repaired now, instead of waiting to see if he would need long term speech therapy and problems with the scar tissue that he currently has.

It will be a fairly short and easy surgery, but he will spend the night in the ICU to assure he has no reaction to anesthesia, that he is able to eat well and keep food down, and most of all, since only so much can be done to sterilize the mouth and nose area they want to reduce the probability of infection as much as possible. I am terrified that my baby boy will have to spend the night in the hospital and I won't be able to stay with him. Jordan will be with him all night, but I need to be home with out little fighter girl. I hate being out of control and having to watch my children suffer while my hands are tied.

Luckily he will be home the following day. He will have to have elbow immobilizers for two weeks to keep his hands from his face to make sure he heals well. He's going to hate it.

The good news is, after two weeks he will be healed and the whole ordeal will be over with for good (at least we hope.) We are also looking forward to the day that Aurora is seizure free and we will not be rushing from one doctor appointment to another day after day, and constantly trying to juggle making it to never ending appointments while Jordan has our only car with him at work.

I am positive that we have trials so that we can learn and grow in our short time on this Earth. I have been reluctant to learn at times and I am trying to take it in stride, be brave and look at the big picture to see what Heavenly Father wants me to be seeing. It's not easy, but I am trying!

The blessings are obvious in the chaos. I am so relieved Rory doesn't have a tumor and that Noah is having surgery for something as easily fixed as a cleft lip.

 Thank you for your prayers, I will say it forever, we ARE being heard and blessings ARE abundant.

I would not be the person I am without the wonderful support our family has. We are so lucky to be in contact with so many special and loving people. Thank you for helping us to continue to stand, and always reaffirming our faith.