Evie the Extraordinary and Her Mommy: The Journey As We Go

I want to talk about Asian ear wax, but should first say that Evie is doing well!  It felt wonderful to have people checking in on us on text and Facebook.  The day started at 4:45 am today, so if this post seems delirious, it's because I am delirious.  For the benefit of someone who might go through this one day at Boston Childrens, first we went to the Surgical Unit on the 3rd floor of the main building, and checked in.  We waited in the pre-surgery waiting room for a bit, where Evie waved at everyone.  Then we went into the pre-op area, where she kept smiling and laughing, thinking we were having great fun.  We met with each of the 3 surgeons and the anesthesiologist to discuss the procedure and sign consent forms.  Erick ended up taking her into the OR (he had to gown up) because she fought the medicine to make her sleepy with every ounce of her toddler-ness (that is a word, once you have a toddler). Evie first had ear tubes put in, which is called a myringotomy. The ti

Evie is going in for her third surgery of her life tomorrow.  I am both excited and dreading this.  Excitement: As a result of this 4-in-1 surgery, Evie will hopefully see better, have less of an eye turn, hear better, improve her speech development, not have watery eyes as frequently, and have less extra tissue around her feeding tube site. Dreading: That moment when I walk Evie into the OR with the nurses and watch them put her to sleep.  I know it's a bunch of minor procedures, but I don't know if I'll ever get used to this.  My friend said it gets better with each procedure.  But hey--it's not open heart surgery!  We already did that with flying colors! We are currently waiting for the day surgery nurse to call with the time for her surgery tomorrow.  After waiting for 4 months for the surgery, I have been terrified that somehow we would have to cancel the surgery date.  Evie got her winter cold over with last week, and then I hid the baby ibuprofen away s

Evie had made some great strides in communicating with us.  She was at first only signing "please" for everything. Please I want you to pick me up, please I want to stop eating, and please open the box.  That got very confusing for us, and frustrating for Evie.  Now Evie has refined her talking points and it's so much easier to know what she wants. Thank you, Rachel Coleman and Baby Signing Times!!   Talking Point #1:   Open. This can either be signed for open a box so I can wreak havoc with its contents, or to denote that the doors on the bus open and close. Talking point #2:   Music.  By running her hand down the other arm in a vague fashion, Evie tells us that she would like to watch music videos on her iPad. She does this more and more ferociously until we understand just how much she would like to listen to music.  Talking point #3:   Yes.  This one's new! If we ask her a question and then ask her if she means Yes or No, she signs Yes with her f

Evie's world has changed for the better.  She got SMO's, or AFO's. I've heard a lot of acronyms, and this was just another set of them until I realized what they really meant.  Supramellar orthotics or ankle-foot orthotics help a child to feel more stable so that they can learn to walk.  In Evie's case, her ankles were so weak that she would try to keep her legs stiff so that she didn't feel so unstable.  She was really afraid of falling over, and I don't blame her.  Meet the cutest little SMO's you've ever seen.   When you go to the orthotics place (we went to NOPCO, which is a veritable empire of orthotics centers all across the region), they will take measurements of your child's foot with a measuring tape (hopefully not necessary to make a cast of their foot).  We waited a month for this appointment, so I would advise not waiting to make that appointment. You need a note of medical necessity from the doctor to got here.    Evie