Kim took Josie to Danville today to visit an ENT specialist. Josie didn’t fare well on her hearing test at school, so we took her to see our pediatrician, who referred us to Danville. We knew that Josie had ear infections in the past, and that she’d been on antibiotics. But she never complains about not being able to hear or pain, so we weren’t too concerned.
Wow. The news isn’t really good. Years of ear infections have left her with severely damaged ears; both eardrums are perforated, and she no longer has any of the three small bones that are in the middle ear.
We FINALLY got a court date to finalize her adoption–April 8. It’s hard to believe that it’s taken this long. She’s been living with us since Oct 22. But all the paperwork has been processed and she’ll officiallybecome the newest member of Team Sublett April 8. We’re hoping to have a bunch of family and friends over to celebrate with us. Consider yourself invited!
One week later Josie will be having the first of many surgeries. She’s going to need 2-4 surgeries on her right ear and 2 on her left ear. There’s more work to be done on the right ear because the skin has grown down into the area where the bones should be. Yuck, I know. The big words for what she’ll need done arethese: Tympanomastoidectomy, Tympanoplasty and ossicular chain reconstruction. If you want to see pictures of what that looks like, be my guest at googling. Josie cried a little in the doctor’s office, and Kim was afraid that we’d been neglectful. But the doctor assured us that this is the result of years of problems, and that the surgeries should do wonders for Josie’s hearing. They’ll repair the damaged eardrums and rebuild/replace the three small bones over the next 12 months.
Side note: When the doctors were conferring with each other about the diagnosis and treatment, Josie leaned over and asked Kim if they were speaking Spanish! The doctors told her that they were using doctors’ language–Doctorese!
Although she was scared at first, by the time Kim and Josie pulled away from the hospital, Josie was optimistic, and thanking God that he was giving her two new ears! She’s such a trooper. Of course, when they got home, Josie couldn’t resist playing it up. I asked her a question, and she replied with classic Sublett dead-pan:
What, Dad? I can’t hear you…
We would appreciate your prayers as we move through the next phase of this. I can only imagine how much pain and discomfort she’s going to experience. I have a greater understanding of why learning English has been difficult. Can you imagine what it must be like to try to learn a language when you can’t really hear how the words are pronounced? But with 2 new ears, her world should open up! We are so thankful to be headed in the right direction.
From the pics below, it looks like Levi has been supplanted by Paisley. He better step up his game. Although the sleeping dog does bear a striking resemblance to Levi…
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