3.30.12

First things first, let me tell you the magical event of the week. Aimee hugged me. This, of course, was not a random occurrence at all. I have been working with Aimee the last couple of months trying to teach her to hug me. We have been working on her shoulder strength in Occupational Therapy with arm braces. We do exercises every day and she has begun to occasionally lift her arms to the sides. It seemed like the perfect time to teach her about hugging. Several times a day, I hold her and wrap her arms around my shoulders. I say, "One, two, three, HUG!" and squeeze her tight. Wednesday morning I picked her up to carry her to the car and she slowly, haltingly lifted her arms over my shoulders and gave a miniscule squeeze. Let me tell you, it didn't feel miniscule to my happy heart!

We had a sedated BAER exam for Aimee's hearing this week. Monday Aimee, Caleb, Nana Annette, and I went down for the per-proceedure appointments to okay her for the exam. We met with Anesthesia and with Otolaryngology. They approved going forward with the schedule.
Wednesday morning, after a great therapy appointment, the kids and I picked up Ed from work and headed to the hospital for the exam. Aimee was in a great mood that day, so great she was laughing in the waiting room. She was even laughing as we put on her hospital gown and prepared her to go under anesthesia. I took a short video to prove it. She clearly is an old hat at these procedures!!

Ed and I have made it a rule that he always accompany me when we do any sedated tests. After the time it took Aimee an extra 24 hours to wake up, I get really nervous waiting, knowing that she is currently under. She usually takes extra time to come out of it and even though I know this ahead of time and logically know it is okay...I still get freaked. She actually did really well this time. The test went on for about 2 hours and by 3 hours I was getting her dressed and ready to head home! Pretty amazing. The only negative was that she looked pretty beat up. She was really yellow, had puffy and purple eyes from them taping her eyes shut (routine during anesthesia), and had several pokes from where they had attempted to get her IV into her. It looks like it took them 4 tries, although I'm not sure if some of those were for the genetic blood test they were also drawing or if they were all for the IV. One thing that I wish they would tell me upon discharge, not leave me to discover later.

So the test results came back the same as they had previously. She has mild to moderate hearing loss. We will repeat this test every 18 months partly to ensure that her hearing aids are set correctly, but also to see if there are any additional clues for her overall condition.

While in Otolaryngology on Monday, we were also encouraged to have Caleb do a BAER exam. He passed his newborn hearing screening, but since Aimee also passed hers, it seems like we should take a more thorough look. Apparently if we get him in for the exam before 6 months, he will not have to be sedated. However, when we talked to the Audiologist about it, she said that it still takes the same amount of time and he will need to be napping through it. Ha! He hardly naps as it is, I can't imagine him sleeping through any probing!!!

New thoughts on that rash that Aimee had last week. Her eyes have been red, full of puss, and swollen quite a bit. She has been choking more than usual too. I am seriously wondering if she has seasonal allergies. I'm not sure if I should pursue this or leave it alone. The days that she had those symptoms, she also spent her evenings miserable and crying. This alone makes me wonder if I should talk to her Naturopath about solutions.