Journey to Health {Ameliya}

This past winter and spring brought successive ear infections and ear fluid for Ameliya.  We continually seemed to be dealing with something related to her ears.  I often flash backed to life when Natalee was little and saw some of history repeating itself.  Many of you know I tend to take a more "natural" approach to health care and believe in healing the body instead of covering up the symptoms.  Believe me when I say we tried.  We did chiropractic care, NSP CBG extract, good probiotics, and diet changes to try to relieve the fluid and pressure for Miss Ameliya but we couldn't seem to get long term results.  Last month we found ourselves looking at yet more my ear hurts, Mama, and we finally decided it was time to visit our good friend and ENT, Dr. Campbell. 

My dad kept the big kids during Mia's initial appointment so it was just the babies with Mike and me. 

Mia's testing showed she was getting no movement on her ear drum - she pretty much drew a flat line on the screen (this is no good).  Dr. Campbell's exam proved what we suspected - that, while no infection, there was old gunky fluid and lots of it.  We pretty much scheduled an appointment with Dr. Campbell to see if he would recommend tubes and he agreed with us that she would benefit greatly from them.  Her initial appointment was the 23rd and we scheduled tubes for the 2nd.

(A quick bite to eat as we scurried to make our appointment time that was bumped up after we were en route!)

Ameliya's surgery was scheduled for early Friday morning.  We weren't sure what time (they call you late Thursday) but made the decision to go down and stay with Mike's sister and family so we didn't have to get up so early.  There's no eating/drink from midnight on and we knew if we woke her up and then drove 2 hours to the surgery center we were setting ourselves up for disaster.  Kea and Miguel were generous hosts and put us up for the night and also watched our big kids during Mia's procedure.  Going down Thursday also meant we got in a little time with our sweetie niece, Adelyn. 

Adelyn is thinking about potty training.  She brought me Mia's panties to put on.  Smartie cake for such a little bean!

 Cousin pile...

 (out-take..but look at the little girls...they love each other so big)

Mia was in a fine mood the morning of surgery.  We fixed her hair all pretty, she never fussed about a drink or food, and she was very excited for "Dr. Campbell to fix her ears."

{Is she sleeping on the way to surgery...?}

 Nope! She's faking!

We were early so we had time for some selfies before she went in.  I love this little girl - so full of life.

 

Ameliya was dubbed the bravest patient of the morning by everyone in the surgery center.  She landed a decently early appointment slot (7:15 arrival) and did not shed a single tear.  She was such a big girl.  The nurses fawned over her and everyone wanted to be her friend.  She got so.many.stickers.

 Kira got to go along and get her ears fixed, too.

I love Dr. Campbell because he and the staff do such a great job of keeping us with our children for everything possible.  We were away from Ameliya for maybe 15 minutes while he performed the procedure.  Just long enough to feed her buddy!

When the nurse came back to get us and bring us to Ameliya in post-op, she said, "Good luck actually getting to care for her.  We (nurses) haven't gotten to do much because Dr. Campbell is back with her taking care of her."  Ha.  She is easy to love.  She was ready to see us and her cup when we got to her but still never cried.  After a chat with the doc, more stickers, and some notes on her care we were on our merry way.  Dolly was sleepy, post op, and ready for something to eat.  Since she has been car sick before we did wait to feed her until we got back at Kea's so we could sit with her. 

Our brave dolly.  Dr. Campbell said he wanted to laugh when he saw her hair bow because any other child would have had it off and lost by the time they got to post op, but not this girl.  She looked just as fresh coming out as she did going in!

She played for a little bit but faded quickly so we said our good-byes and loaded in to the van where she could nap in her seat on the way home.

 {on the road home}

Mia's hunger kicked in so we stopped midway and got food for everyone and did potty breaks.  When we got home she was excited to realize that she to to put up a "sick bed" on the couch.  Sick bed at our house is a throne on the couch with basically free reign over the TV. 

I put on Facebook the night before her surgery that we'd like prayers for our girl, and our friends came through for us, as you always do.  If you prayed, I thank you.

Most excitedly, I'm pleased to report that the three weeks of nightly terror by the "LIONS" has been alleviated by the tube surgery.  Apparently the lion attack that hit every night was a sound she was hearing or a sensation caused by the pressure in her ears.  There was only one night she didn't have a lion episode and that was when she stayed at Nannie's house, so we're pretty sure it's a sound in the house - likely a common sound - that in her sleep induced and 'ears full of junk' state sounded much worse than it really was.  Since surgery we have not have one single lion episode!

Thank you all for taking me seriously when I ask for prayers.  These are the things real life is made of - and your prayers matter to us!